Let Fate Decide
by Anonymous-cat
Summary: The continued adventures of Zak and Bri, during the begining of the Animorph war. Meeting the 'morphs...
1. Chapter 1 Zak

A/N-Hey, look at this! Anonymous-cat is posting again! Wow. Anyway, you might have heard me talking about further ideas for Zak and Bri. I've put them into words, finally. I'm not sure if anyone is going to be interested, the idea isn't as novel as my earlier stories. But this story is about what happened to Zak and Bri during the beginning of the Animorph war. (Boy, I bet you can't guess what happens here, huh?) Like I said, an overused idea. But I have to get through the war, to after the war, to say what I want to about the Kelbrid! And the Animorphs are involved in that. If you want me to continue with this, review!

Chapter 1- Zak

My name is Zantar-Semityr-Dantil. Or Zak, if you prefer. My friend, Bri, is really into shortening names. She shortened her own name from Sabrina to Bri, and goes around giving other people short names as well. Like last summer, when she gave a visiting Andalite named Alanthi the name Allie. What is an Andalite, you might ask? If you don't know by now, then you are probably one of the lucky people who haven't been infested. All Controllers know what Andalites are.

I should know what Andalites are, although I'm not a Controller, thankfully. No, I'm an Andalite myself, although I'm very different from most of my blood-relatives. You see, I've been raised among humans, ever since my parents' ship crashed about 13 years ago. I hadn't even seen another Andalite until last year, in fact. Earth isn't widely visited by Andalites, apparently. Alanthi-Estana-Illinia, or Allie, and her crew arrived on earth. I was given the option then to go with them back to the home world, where my parents had originally come from. But, I chose to stay on earth with my adopted parents, Bri, and her family instead. I followed my heart.

The Andalites agreed to let me stay, as long as I promised to be on alert to Yeerk activity. Yeerks are another set of aliens; they can crawl into your ear and take over your body, making you a Controller. They are the Andalites' sworn enemies.

Alanthi tried to get me to come with her. She thought I'd be happier among my own people, and I secretly think she would have enjoyed my company personally. But, as much as I liked Alanthi, I hardly knew her, only being with her for a week. Bri, and my parents, had been with me for my whole lifetime. They loved me. And, with Alanthi's help, I had the ability to morph. I can change my body into a human, although only for two hours. I wouldn't be an outcast anymore, would actually fit in on earth. So I decided to stay.

I have been getting a more normal life, lately. Sam, Bri's older alien-adopted sister who is a very intelligent Kelbrid, was able to hack into adoption records and make a file for me, saying that I was adopted by Jess and Mike, my 'parents.' So now I have a regular bedroom, although I don't use it often, and human clothes. I even go to a human middle school and demorph in the restroom between periods. I'm making some friends there, although Bri will always be my best friend. Back when I first started morphing human, I had a habit of repeating and playing with mouth sounds. Andalites don't have mouths or speak out loud, so it was entertaining and new at first. Then my parents signed me up for speech therapy classes to help me with this problem. I now speak like a normal human.

Like I said, it was about a year ago that Alanthi landed on earth. Since then, I have spoken to her over the Z-space transponder once or twice, but mostly have sent the Andalite equivalent of e-mails. She's pretty busy, and I hear she is now a full-fledged scientist working for the Andalite military.

Things were just starting to get normal in my life. Then it was summer again, and right about that time, Bri began going to a new club, called the Sharing.


	2. Chapter 2 Bri

A/N- Whoa. So many reviews right at the start! Thanks guys!

Trivia for everyone- You know that this series uses lines from Tarzan songs as titles. Which song is this title from?

Review Responses

DH-You are the first reviewer! Hands over prize This chapter is dedicated to you then. Thanks for being so supportive! You will find out what happens to Bri in this chapter…Grins

Chessrook44-Not exactly sequel…this is the third in my series about Zak and Bri. I'm hoping this won't break my reputation. I don't really have a career, since nobody pays me to write. I just like to do it. But I hope people like it anyway!

KP-I'm so happy to be posting again. Its more interesting than just reviewing. No, they don't know the Yeerks are behind the Sharing yet, but Bri is about to find out. And yes, Bri can morph. Zak broke the law he didn't know of and gave her the morphing power. Thanks for going back and reviewing my other stories! And you put me on your favorites list? Thanks! I feel so special now. It is kind of funny that back then we barely knew each other and now you're going back and reviewing…but in a good way. And my fic made you want to listen to Tarzan music? Similar thing happened with Panthergirl. I didn't know it affected people that way. Your comments on Sam's parents- I didn't even think of bestiality when I wrote that story. Now I'm wondering if I wrote something that is perhaps immoral. Is it wrong to even think of creatures from different races falling in love? I didn't even think of that. Got something to chew on now…Anyhow, I think I've replied enough to your reviews now. Remember to update the Healing soon!

Panthergirl-Thanks for your reviewing! I hope it will turn out well…

Mersang-You'll find out about Bri in this chapter. As for the song, that's trivia! See if you can discover for yourself. Thanks for reviewing!

Astievia-Don't do what? Continue writing? Or let Bri get infested?

(Get out! Out of my head, now!) I screamed at the alien who had taken over my body. (You have no right! No right at all! Under the Constitution, all humans are allowed the right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness! Or is that the Declaration of Independence? Anyway, I have rights! You can't do this to me!)

It was a desperate attempt. I knew that the Yeerk, Dakra-281, wouldn't care what the documents signed by our founding fathers said about my rights. In her mind, and the minds of all Yeerks, humans or any other creatures have no rights once a Yeerk has taken over their body. I was just trying to distract the alien from finding the important information I had stored inside my head. Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful.

How did I get into such a predicament? It all started when I began going to this Boy-scouts-like club called the Sharing. It seemed pretty innocent, just a crowd of people doing family activities and helping out around the town. I had brought Zak twice, but he was uncomfortable. So I kept going, by myself. I didn't understand why Zak had a problem with it. Then the official members asked me to become an official member as well, or quit the club. I decided to join officially. Which is when they infested me.

The fact that I am infested is not good for earth. You see, besides being morph-capable, I also know about the only other morpher on earth, as well as a race of aliens not known to Yeerks yet, two of which happen to be my adopted mother and sister. Oh yeah, this wasn't good for earth or the galaxy in general. And of course, it wasn't convenient for me either.

(Leave me alone! I'm not worth it!) I shouted once more. The Yeerk tried to quiet me.

(Shut up, human. We both know you are more valuable than any other host besides Visser Three's. It would be to your best interest to stay quiet.)

(My interests? You don't care anything about my interests, and we both know it. In fact, it's probably in my best interests to keep you distracted; yet another fact we both know.)

(Now I know everything you know, human. It won't do you any good to try anything.)

(Hey, I'm a person, and I have a name, so kindly don't refer to me as 'human.' )I could tell she was about to scream.

(Shut up!)

A sharp, thought-speak voice broke into our little conversation. (Well, Dakra-281, how are you enjoying your new host? Do you think you can be more useful as a human than a Hork-bajir? Or will you turn out to be a failure in any host?) The voice sneered.

I turned my head, although it was really Dakra doing it, and looked straight into the four eyes of an Andalite. I was shocked, but it couldn't show anywhere on my face, because Dakra had control of that too. An Andalite host? That was impossible! The Andalites have been fighting the Yeerks, there can't possibly be…

(Visser Three has the only Andalite host, human. Although there will soon be more.)

Aloud, and using my mouth, she said, "Yes, Visser. I can assure you, I cannot fail this time."

The Visser narrowed his...or should I say his host's... eyes. (And why should that be, Dakra-281? You have been nothing but a hindrance ever since you received a host. I doubt you are even worthy of this human youth!)

Dakra straightened, visibly angered. But she didn't allow her anger to seep into my voice. Instead, she said calmly, "This human host is especially valuable, Visser. She has heard of Andalites before. In fact, she has met them. This host," she said dramatically, "is morph capable." After pronouncing this, she waited for the room to quiet down. Then she said, "As you can see, I am indispensable."

I noticed that she didn't mention Zak. Why not? I got a glimpse of her mind and realized that she wanted him for herself. She planned on capturing him and becoming a sub-visser, or even a Visser. I shook a bit, at that, but I was sure Dakra could never catch Zak. Almost nothing can take down an Andalite.

(You never were good at telling lies, Dakra,) the Visser said. (But let us believe you, for now. If you are, as you say, morph-capable, then morph for us. If you do not, or can not, morph...) He whipped the tail-blade to my throat. He didn't say what would happen if she didn't morph, but I knew. When an Andalite has his tail at your throat, you had better cooperate or you are dead. And I could tell that the Visser was looking for an excuse for Dakra to die.

Shaking a bit, Dakra morphed. She chose my favorite morph- Andalite. When it was complete, she whipped our tail round and gazed at the Visser calmly. (Are you satisfied now, Visser?)

He scowled, and his tail quivered, but he removed it. I was too valuable to kill, I guess. He then shouted angrily,(A morph-capable human? That is not possible!)

(It is, Visser. The Andalites gave her the morphing power.)

He glared, pacing. (They would never do that. They have a law against giving technology to other creatures!)

(A young Andalite broke the law. It befriended this human and gave her the morphing power.)

The Visser regained a bit of calm. (You will demoprh. And you will tell me everything about this human. _Everything_.)

In front of high-ranking Controllers, Dakra reported _almost_ everything I knew. About my mother and sister, about the Andalites landing. But she was very careful to keep Zak a secret.

When the heard of the Kelbrid, most of the Controllers looked at each other in confusion. They had no idea what Kelbrid were. Only Visser Three seemed to know.

(Ah, yes. Kelbrid. The Andalites have a miserable treaty with them, a truce. They are not allies, though. The Andalites believe they are almost as smart as them, perhaps they have the same intelligence. )

"No, Visser. The Kelbrid are far more technologically advanced than the Andalites. They would be formidable foes, but priceless as hosts. With their knowledge, we could do some real damage to the Andalites!" Fear struck a cord through my heart. Sam and mom as hosts? No! I wanted to scream, to prevent this, but I couldn't. So I screamed silently at Dakra instead.

(Shut up, human! Can't you see this is important?)

(No! I don't care about your little meeting! Just leave my family alone. Please!) I sobbed a bit, my voice on edge. Even as I said this, I knew I wouldn't convince Dakra. She was as cold-hearted as any Yeerk.

(I will have time to break you later, human. At the moment, I am busy. )

Dakra continued pouring my knowledge out before the Yeerks, while I stared, horrified, out of eyes I couldn't direct anymore. But while she was talking, I came to a conclusion. Dakra would love to break me. She would love to see me scream as I just had. I wouldn't give her the satisfaction.

You don't know how tempted to give in I was, right then. I was helpless, paralyzed, and was going to make my family the same way. Who wouldn't break down? But I realized I couldn't do that. If I broke down, I was letting Dakra win. So I would just have to be strong. Strong for my family; strong for myself.

I would not wallow in misery. What good would it do me, or Sam, or Mom, or Zak? No good. So there was no use in crying. All I could do was hope. And if I hoped, it would be a continuous irritation to Dakra. And it would be a comfort to me.

I remembered what I had yelled at the Andalites, that my sister and mom would rescue me. I had to have that confidence now. Mom and Sam would notice that I wasn't acting like myself. Zak would notice. Soon I would be free. _Just keep thinking that, Bri. Soon you'll be free._

When Dakra was finished, the Visser spoke. (Send some Hork-bajir over to the Kelbrid residence and make them ours. Now!)

Then one of the human-controllers said, "Visser, that could be unwise. These Kelbrid could be formidable foes. We should have Dakra continue her cover for awhile until we are satisfied that we can take them…" He trailed off as the Andalite-controller stood over him. The tail-blade twitched, and his head went rolling.

Dakra flinched as I screamed inside. Maybe I could hold out hope I would be free, and not be bothered, but this was a different sort of terror. Someone had just died in front of me. Dakra must have been used to this though, because my body only flinched slightly.

The Visser turned, calmly, to face the other Controllers. (Does anyone else have an opinion on my decision?)

Yeah, _I_ did. But I couldn't voice it, unfortunately.

Then the Visser paced a bit more. (On second thought, Dakra, continue your cover. These Kelbrid may be too strong for us, at first. Discover if they have any hidden weapons. Report to me in three days after feeding, and tell me what you have discovered. You are dismissed. )

I was relieved. At least, this bought mom and Sam some time. They would have three days to discover the truth about me. I had to hope that they would.

A/N-I just found out that the little thought-speak icons aren't working properly. I'll use parathesis for now.


	3. Chapter 3 Bri

A/N- Thanks so much for all your reviews, guys. But no one paid attention to the trivia! I guess my story was so good you didn't even read the author's note, which says something…Anyway, here is the trivia from last time.

TRIVIA- What song is my title taken from?

Review Responses 

Wraithlord42-Yes, I'm back, and loving it!

Chessrook44-Will I free Bri? Maybe. Maybe not. You'll just have to read to find out.

Korean Pearl- If Bri had a nice Yeerk, the plot would go nowhere. As in, I'd have to re-think my entire story, which would be a hassle. About them knowing about the Kelbrid- they don't dare attack them yet. If not even the Andalites could challenge them, the Yeerks aren't going to try without scouting a bit first. The Kelbrid race in general is safe from Yeerks, and Bri's family is being checked out before the Yeerks try anything. And yes, Dakra wants Zak for herself. A morphable human is great, but an Andalite draws more respect, even if Zak can't give them Andalite technology. I did mention that Dakra wanted Zak somewhere in the story; you must have missed it. Yeah, its funny, cause my first review goes like, "whoa! just read your story today. very interesting. Short, but interesting. write more." And then you say, "Thank you for your review! Yes, it's short, but see above (response to Rachel9466) and I have my excuse for why."

And now we have this huge chunk of writing, or textbooks, as you called them. Anywho, about Sam's parents, I never really thought about their story that much. I'm leaning toward the idea that, as Kelbrid, they were trained not to follow the bodies instincts so much, and yet she still loved her husband anyway, but haven't fully documented her story. I'm thinking of writing how they met and stuff, and then how Sam's mom got to earth with her child, like your story with Helen, but I don't have any time right now, or inspiration. So let's trade text-books now, and thanks for reviewing!

Panthergirl-She has to get infested because…um…I said so! But you had the same problem with the what? I didn't see the last part.

DH-Nope, the Kelbrid don't have Yeerk-detecting powers. Good guess, though! And thanks, I'm glad to be back!

Lady of Romantic Dreams-Thanks so much for your review!

Birdie num num- Yes, the stupid thought-speak things. It just isn't the same with parentheses. And you'll find out what happens next in this chapter, one of my favorites from this book.

Traycon3- Thanks! And yes, I will continue. I like writing!

Morph- I'm updating, as soon as possible!

There is Hope- Thank you for reviewing, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't advertise for your own stories in my review section. And yes I read what you wrote in 'Infested', and it is an okay idea, but I don't have that plan here. I don't want to copy your story, I want to write down my own ideas.

Chapter 3- Bri

And that's how I began my life as a Controller. I ended up going home like everything was normal, saying the meeting was great, and being congratulated for becoming a full member. Well, everyone congratulated me except Zak, at least not right away.

"Well. So you're a full member now." He was quiet, and I wanted to say, "Help, Zak. This isn't me!" But I couldn't, and soon Zak went on. "So, uh, what does that mean, anyway? What's the difference between a part-time member and a full member? Why is this important?"

"Oh," Dakra said carelessly, "It just means I'm no longer a guest there. Now I belong, and get to help plan activities and stuff. No big deal."

That's how it went for the next three days. I had no control over anything except my thoughts, which Dakra could read. I ended up snooping around my own house, to see if Sam or Mom had any secret weapons they could use against a Yeerk. Luckily, she didn't find any, which would come in handy later. Meanwhile, I was stuck.

At the end of three days, Dakra was feeling weaker and hungry. I tried to throw her, take control, but it didn't work. It never worked. Dakra told Sam and Mom I was going to the mall, which I was. More specifically, I was going to the Gap, where there were two entrances to the Yeerk pool. Great.

We picked up some nice clothes, which unfortunately we weren't going to buy. If I had to go to the mall, couldn't Dakra oblige me by buying something? Apparently not. We entered the dressing room at the Gap, opened a secret panel at the back, and walked down several flights of stairs. I heard the screams of humans as we went down, and smelled the stench of Hork-bajir sweat and Yeerk sludge. If I had been in control, I would have turned and run away. As it was, I could only watch.

As we reached the bottom, I saw a horrifying scene. Humans, standing in line, were waiting to feed. Actually, it was the Yeerks who were feeding. The humans, once they were free, would scream and fight the Hork-bajir guards, but it was no use. They were locked in cages for a few hours while their Yeerks fed.

I thought we would be getting in line at the pier, but instead we walked to the far side of the cavern. We met two Hork-bajir guards there, who Dakra asked to let us through on special orders from the Visser. The Hork-bajir glanced at each other, and let us through. We walked down a whitewashed hall with confident steps. Well, at least Dakra was confident. She was also distracted. I used the opportunity to trip her, just as Visser Three and a whole bunch of Hork-bajir walked into the hallway. The Hork-bajir snickered, while Visser Three smirked.

Losing control of your host already, Dakra-281? 

She scowled. "Why have you asked me to come, Visser?"

The smirk disappeared. Your host is morph-capable. For now, my quarters are the only ones equipped to contain morph-capables. You will feed in the same room as I for now. He sure didn't look happy about this, but turned and walked briskly down the hall. Dakra hurried to keep up.

We can to a room with a door that had seven locks on it and appeared to be electrified. They sure didn't want anyone escaping from this place, especially the most valuable hosts. Which I guess included the Andalite and me.

We were escorted inside, and almost immediately a huge Hork-bajir clapped some handcuffs on me. These emitted a weird blue light. The Andalite host received the same treatment, but was additionally cuffed- his front legs and back legs were hobbled together so he couldn't walk properly, let alone run. His deadly tail was sheathed.

One of the Hork-bajir rudely pushed me forward, and Dakra glared at him. She leaned over and tilted my head over a stainless steel pool in the center of the room. She began squirming away- she was leaving! At last. Maybe I could…

Nope. As soon as I stood up I felt the business end of a Dracon beam buried in my back. I was roughly shoved over to the side of the room, where my hands and legs were shackled to the wall. I was able to watch as the Andalite-Controller tilted his head and the Visser was released. The temporarily free Andalite offered no resistance, and was also chained up. The Hork-Bajir left the room and probably stood guard on the other side of the door, although I couldn't see them. Seconds after they left, the door electrified. There was no way we were getting out of here. I sighed, and figured I better find out who this unfortunate and beaten Andalite was. There was nothing else to do.

"Hi. I'm Sabrina Johnson. Who are you?"

The Andalite didn't answer. All four eyes were closed, and his breathing was heavy and ragged. I thought maybe he hadn't heard me, but then he said harshly, (My name is an Andalite curse-word.)

Well. He sounded pretty depressed. A small voice in the back of my head whispered, _That's your future There is no escape from this place. Why deny it? There is no hope._ I shoved the notion away. I refused to give up hope. I had overcome things before, I could deal with this. And so, resolutely, I said, "Come on. I'm not an Andalite, and I have nothing against you." Then I laughed. "Besides, I'm not in much of a position to curse at you anyway. What do you have to lose?"

Nothing. What more could he lose than he had already?

(I am Alloran-Semitur-Corrass.)

"Nice to meet you, Alloran." He was older, and somehow I didn't think he would appreciate my shortening his name, as I would have done with someone who was more familiar to me. "I guess you can't call the circumstances nice, but still…" I trailed off. Alloran wasn't listening.

So I concentrated of something else- morphing. I figured if I could morph something small like my cat, I could shrink out of my bonds. Then I could find a way out of here, hopefully. But when I tried to morph, I got a shock to the brain that made me lose all concentration. From far away, I heard Alloran say (It is no use.)

I shook my head, recovering from the shock. "What's no use?"

(Morphing. The handcuffs are morph-resistant. We cannot get out.)

At the last words, his thought-voice rose, as if in despair. It freaked me a bit, but all I said was, "Oh." Then, "How long have you been here?" He didn't answer. I tried again. "How did you get here?" Still no answer. Man, he was the most un-cooperative conversationalist I had ever met. So finally I just started talking about myself, although I didn't mention Zak. "Well, _I_ got here through a Sharing meeting. Stupid, huh? I should have seen it. Hey, I've known about aliens for a long time, I should have known that something was wrong. I mean, my family members are alien, and I've even met some Andalites who told me about Yeerks. I was pretty stupid." I proceeded to tell him how I got the morphing power, although I didn't mention the other Andalite's names. Then, remembering what I had said captive aboard the Andalite ship, I said, "My mother and sister will know. Soon, they'll see I'm not myself. They'll rescue me," I stated confidently, although deep inside I knew that wasn't probable. Dakra was going to report to the Visser after feeding. She would tell him that she thought we could take my family, with many Hork-bajir, of course. _No, Bri, don't think about it._

(They won't.) I was startled to hear the Andalite's voice again. (Yeerks are too good at passing for their hosts. Your family will never know. Your race will never know either, until they have all been taken.) Then he fell silent.

I stared. "What, do you exist for the sole reason of dashing everyone else's hopes? Maybe you've had it bad, maybe I will have it bad in the future, but that doesn't give you the right to try and drag me down with you!" I couldn't believe this guy.

It was his turn to stare at me. (Why do you still have hope? Why do you cling to your desire to be rescued? There is no sense in it.)

"Maybe. But if I gave up hope, I couldn't live with myself, let alone with someone else in my head. It's hard to explain. I just- nothing is impossible." I remembered a quote from some book, and repeated it. "If we die expecting to live, we will be none the worse for it. But if we live expecting to die, we'll have thrown our lives away!"

(My life is not my own.)

"Yes, it is. You may not be able to control your body, but you can control your mind. If you give up all hope of escape, if you live in despair, then the Visser has won your mind as well as your body."

He looked away and said nothing for a while. Then, (You are brave, Sabrina. If more humans were like you, Yeerks would never be able to take over Earth.)

I nodded, and said, "They won't." Then I had a thought. "Why don't we make a promise to each other, to keep our hopes up?" I suggested. "We could swear, that if one of us ever gets free, he or she will come back for the other and free them, no matter what it takes. Want to?"

He stared at me once more, then did something I thought I would never see him do- laugh. (You are a strange girl, Sabrina Johnson.)

"Well?" He shrugged. So I said, "Well, I'll do it anyway. I, Sabrina Johnson, swear on my honor that if I am ever freed from the clutches of the Yeerks I will return to free Alloran-Semitur-Corrass or I shall die trying." I grinned, then, because I'm not often that serious.

Alloran looked at me oddly, showing- what emotion? Respect? Pity? I hadn't thought he would play along, so I was surprised to hear him say, (Very well. I, Alloran-Semitur-Corrass swear on whatever honor I have left that if I am ever freed from the, clutches, of the Yeerks I will return to free Sabrina Johnson or die trying. Are you satisfied?)

"Yes," I said, but I was wondering about the first part of his oath. 'On whatever honor I have left'? What did that mean? I was going to ask him, when the door opened and six Hork-bajir stormed in, one of them un-clasping me. I shouted, "I'll see you later, Alloran," and almost smiled as my ear slipped into the sludge. Moments later, both of us were Controllers again. But there was one difference- as I watched the Visser take control again, I saw his face spasm and his tail twitch. And though Dakra managed to remove all emotion from my face seconds later, no Yeerk in the room missed the smile that spread across it.

I did see Alloran again, although afterwards it was mostly when he was a Controller. There was one time he was free, and again after the war- but I'm getting ahead of myself.


	4. Chapter 4 Zak

A/N- I am getting restless so I'm posting again. By the way, have you guys seen the news about C2? Something about communities within fan fiction. Does anyone have any information on this, and is anyone planning on starting an Animorphs community? Just wondering.

No one pays attention to trivia anymore. Oh well. As Chessrook44 is the only person to attempt an answer, this chapter is dedicated to her.

Review Responses 

Panthergirl- Do you know what has changed that is giving us so much trouble with the thought-speak thingys?

DH- If I told you about a rescue, I'd be breaking a law of fanfic writers- never reveal something before it's time. But about Bri babbling about herself- she didn't say anything about Zak or anything that would help the Yeerks at all. If she knew anything else important, she figures Dakra would have reported it. And Bri's personal life isn't going to matter much longer. Yes, it may be a bad excuse, but it's the only one I've got.

Morph- Thanks for your review! And yes, I'm updating sooner now.

Chessrook44-Nobody but you appreciated my trivia- too bad. But thanks for guessing! And the song is called 'Two Worlds'.

KP-Yep, foreshadowing, I've put a little more thought into what I want to happen throughout this story. In fact, this entire story is already written, and I'm starting on the next one now. You'll have to wait until that book for Alloran to come up again, but I do have it planned. Katakana and Kanji- are those Japanese dialects? I've never taken a foreign language, so my non-English vocabulary is very limited.

There is Hope- I'm sorry if I was a little ticked at you earlier. It just sounded a bit like you were bragging about your own story…sorry. But thanks for reviewing! I noticed I'm on your fav. List… Thanks again!

Chapter 4- Zak

I was worried about Bri. She continued going to those Sharing meetings, and I couldn't persuade her to stop. I didn't understand it. That place gave me a bad feeling. Those _people_ gave me bad feelings. They were too happy, like they were acting for a commercial or something. And now, Bri was acting that way too. She adopted an everything is hunky-dory, nothing is wrong attitude, and told me to stop worrying. Four days after she became a full member though, I finally realized why Bri had been acting so strangely. I was right to be worried.

On that day, Bri asked me to walk in the woods together. We used to do that more often, back when I couldn't go anywhere else. But now, we hang at the park, the mall, or beach as regularly as the woods. Another unusual thing was that Bri didn't morph Andalite or ask to sit on my back so we could move faster. She said we should 'enjoy the scenery' or something like that. Then, she had me stop in a clearing walked away a bit, and said, "Close your eyes. I have a surprise for you." She smiled an un-Bri-like smile, and reached for her pocket.

It was then that I knew. It felt like a scene from a movie where everything moves in slow motion. Bri reached for the ray-beam in her pocket, smiling that weird smile, and my tail whipped out, and whammed into the side of her head like Alanthi taught me. Bri's face registered shock before she fell to the ground. Which is when time slid back into real-time, and my mind moved at a million miles per hour.

Bri was a Controller? How was that possible? She was going to shoot me with a ray gun! Dracon beam, that's what Alanthi called them. I had just knocked out my best friend. How was I going to get her home? What if I had been mistaken, and Bri had to go to the hospital? What would I say then? _Calm down Zak, just get her home._

I removed the Dracon beam from her pocket, hoisted her onto my back with the help of my tail, and ran back home at full speed. I must have startled my parents, who were making dinner, by running inside in full Andalite form with Bri unconscious on my back and shouting, (Bri's a Controller!) Mom dropped the spaghetti water in the sink, and it splashed on Dad, making him yell.

"Zak, what is it?" Mom shouted, ignoring Dad, who glared at her.

(Bri is a Controller. I need to call Sam and Ms. Johnson! Tie Bri up, and don't let her wake up!) Of course Mom didn't do this, still being confused as to what Controllers were. I, meanwhile, dumped Bri on the couch and began morphing to human at full speed.

Once I was human, I dialed Carmen Johnson. "Ms. Johnson, your daughter is a Controller! She…"

I didn't get any farther before Ms. Johnson said, "Shhhh!" Then, in a quiet, calm voice, she said, "Now, what is wrong with Bri, Zak? She fell?"

"I…" Then I realized Ms. Johnson didn't want to talk about Yeerks on the airways. "Yes. She fell. Do you have a first aid kit or something that would help her? I don't know what to do."

"Okay, Zak. Is she unconscious?"

"Yes."

"That's alright. Wait until I get there to do anything. I'm coming now." Then she hung up.

Waiting for Ms. Johnson, I explained in detail what happened with Bri. Dad had an ice pack on his arm, and Mom was still confused. Dad understood, though, and he groused, "Great. We don't need any more aliens around here. Especially not these body-snatchers. At least hose cousins of yours were polite enough to keep their bodies to themselves."

"Dad, they weren't exactly my cousins…" I started to explain, and then gave up. Dad liked the world the way it was before, without aliens crash-landing on earth, in the good old simple days. He'd adapted, and I knew he loved me, but he liked to complain about aliens every chance he got.

I slowly demorphed, and my mom looked away. Morphing is irregular, and not something you want to watch on a regular basis. It can actually be quite gross, like now, when my spine elongated without any skin covering it. So Mom prefers to keep her attention on other things. When I was an Andalite again, I felt less helpless. Now I would be able to knock Bri out again, in the event of her regaining consciousness before Ms. Johnson came.

Ms. Johnson came, and very quickly too. We heard strange flutter outside, but when we opened the door, all we saw was the woman rushing inside. Once inside, she was much less hurried. She placed a small pair of handcuffs on Bri, pulled out a syringe, and held it over Bri's arm. We waited for Bri to wake up, but eventually had to drizzle water on her. Apparently being knocked out by an Andalite is a painful thing.

Blinking the water from her eyes, Bri sat up. "Zak," Ms. Johnson instructed, "put your tail-blade to her throat."

(What?)

"Do it. Now."

Bri jerked unsteadily as I brought the blade close to her neck. I was nervous, too. My tail-blade shook from nervousness, because I wasn't trained in this kind of thing. I could fight a bit, but this kind of skilled maneuver- I wasn't steady enough. And I was afraid I would accidentally kill Bri.

Bri looked around. "What's going on? Zak, why did you knock me out?"

(Bri, you are a Controller.)

"What?" She laughed, but it was a nervous laugh. "What are you talking about?"

(You tried to shoot me with a Dracon beam. And you have been acting a bit, off, ever since you became a member of the Sharing.)

"Zak, what's wrong with you? I'm not a Controller. And what's a Dracon beam?"

(Alanthi told us about the weapons Yeerks used. And when you drew a gun on me, one that isn't found on earth, I knew you were a Controller.)

"You're imagining things. I don't have a Dracon beam."

(You did,) I said, pulling it out and gratefully replacing my tail-blade with the ray gun. I would have more control over the Dracon beam than my tail-blade.

I should have had Alanthi teach me more about tail-control.

Breaking my train of thought, Ms. Johnson started to talk. "Now, Yeerk, you will tell me your name and designation."

"I'm not a Yeerk. How many times do I have to say it?"

"Then, you won't mind if I inject you with this poison." She held up the syringe filled with clear liquid. "It is a Yeerk poison. Not harmful to a human or any other creature, but lethal to a Yeerk. Once in the blood stream, it acts as a controlled Quantum Virus, killing a Yeerk within five minutes after they extract oxygen from their host's blood to breathe."

Bri's face went white. Then she sneered. "We have nothing like that at our house, Mom. I would know."

"No, you would not know. I had hidden my chemistry set far from your reach. It is not a thing for a human to use."

"You're lying."

"Why would I lie, Bri?" She said softly. "If I am lying, then it will not matter if I give you the injection." Ms. Johnson began to push the needle into Bri's arm, but didn't release the poison just yet.

"No!" Bri screamed suddenly. "I'll, I'll tell you everything. Just don't kill me!"

Cowardly Yeerk. Stupid, too.

Her mother pulled the syringe out and dabbed a piece of cotton on Bri's arm where the needle had punctured the skin. "Now you will tell me your name and designation, or I will kill you."

The Yeerk was quiet for a minute, until Ms. Johnson began to replace the needle. "No! I'm Dakra 281. I have no designation as of yet, but I am to be announced as Sub-visser 22 in three days."

(That will not happen,) I couldn't help commenting.

Dakra glared at me out of Bri's eyes. It was a strange and unfamiliar look. Bri was almost never angry with me.

But this wasn't Bri.

A cold feeling settled at the bottom of my stomach. I hadn't allowed myself to think about that earlier; there was too much to do. But now I realized that Bri really wasn't Bri anymore. Ms. Johnson had better be able to fix this.

I realized that once again, I had let my mind wander. Ms. Johnson was interrogating the Yeerk, who was revealing many things about the Yeerk invasion. There was an underground Yeerk pool complex, the leader of the invasion was a Yeerk named Visser Three who held an Andalite body, the hosts being used were Hork-Bajir and Taxxons. I had no idea what those were. Finally, we could get no more out of Dakra.

"Now, Dakra 281, you will release my daughter."

"No," Dakra whispered, face white. "You'll kill me. You'll kill me whatever I do! I shouldn't have revealed so much information!" She was almost in hysterics by now.

"We will not kill you," Ms. Johnson said. "I have a bio-stasis mechanism. You will be left in suspended animation."

Dakra shivered. "I don't trust you."

"You must trust us, or you will die for certain. If you do not release Sabrina within 30 seconds, I will inject the poison."

Fear surfaced in Bri's- no, Dakra's eyes. I could see she would consent.

"Fine," Dakra mumbled, the last word she spoke aloud. Bri's face took on a dazed look, as a ring of slime appeared inside her right ear. I watched as the Yeerk extended feelers, and then wriggled out of Bri. It fell into a zip-lock bag Ms. Johnson was holding.

Bri sagged. "Mom, Zak…" She grabbed her mother to her, sluggishly, and they embraced. Then she hugged me too, even though I was still Andalite and not the most comfortable person to hug. It was even more difficult than usual, because Ms. Johnson had not removed the handcuffs yet.

When they were off, everyone relaxed and smiled. We were relieved, even my parents, who still didn't really understand what was going on. Luckily my mom was in the kitchen when the Yeerk emerged, or she might have fainted. She's seen aliens before, and dealt with it fine, but seeing a slug writhe out of a girl's ear is something I don't think she could handle well.

Then Bri sat up, remembering something. "Mom! They're- they're going to storm our house! Dakra, she told them they could take you. You have to get Sam out of there!"

"Sweetie, everything is fine. Zak's phone call came just before some dark vans drove up outside the house. I took everything that was Kelbrid, told Sam, and flew."

"Flew?"

Ms. Johnson smiled. "Honey, I can morph. I morphed the kanjakra bird from the Kelbrid home world. It is large enough to carry a briefcase. The only trouble was staying out of sight until the Controllers were inside."

"What about Sam?" Bri asked fearfully.

"Samantha was at her ranch. I notified her via thought-speak. The Controllers will believe she is dead."

"Why?"

"Unlike Andalites, Kelbrid morphers can dispel any of their DNA at any time. Samantha will reject her human DNA pattern, which will emerge in the form of a body. A dead body, because the DNA cannot survive outside of Samantha. She will do this near a river, and they will believe it was a drowning accident. She should meet us in a few minutes." I thought that releasing DNA in the form of a body was perhaps immoral, but said nothing. We couldn't worry about that now.

Bri sighed. Then she hugged her mom again. "Oh Mom, I'm just so glad you're safe. I was afraid…"

"Shhh. Its okay, Sabrina. Everyone is alive and free." She stood up, and held out the syringe. "I think it's time I inject you both."

I was puzzled. )Why? Neither of us is a Controller, anymore. What good would it do?)

"The poison is not for one time use. It stays in your bloodstream, killing any Yeerk who infests you. All Kelbrid receive injections like this at birth. I did not believe the Yeerks would ever come to this planet, however, and did not give Sabrina the injection. Now I wish I had." After this speech, Ms. Johnson came forward and injected Bri and me. Now, according to Ms. Johnson, we could not be infested. Although there was one drawback, if you can call it a drawback- we could never morph Yeerk. The poison would kill us.

Then Ms. Johnson said, "Don't you have something to do, Zak?"

Yes, I did. As my parents went back to making lunch, and as Samantha arrived in a bizarre bird morph, Bri and I notified the Andalite home world of the invasion of earth.


	5. Chapter 5 Alanthi

A/N-This chapter is the one and only chapter of this story from Alanthi's point of view. We get to see a bit of what happened to her, and how she reacts to the invasion.

Review Responses

Morph- There is always a chance. After all, this is fan fiction, and nothing is impossible here.

Chessrook44-My most sincere apologies for mistaking your gender. You really can't know these things when talking on the internet, and you never specified a gender in your bio, so…sorry. I've done this before with DH, to my shame.

Panthergirl- yes, I use Microsoft word. And where do you see it going? Would appreciate feed-back.

KP-Thanks! The Yeerk poison is one of my favorite parts of that chapter, mainly because I'm so proud I finally figured our how to make it work. I didn't know how I was going to get the Yeerk in contact with the poison, until I realized that everything needs oxygen to breathe, right? Even Yeerks. And where are they going to get oxygen inside someone's head? From the host's blood. So a successful Yeerk poison could be injected into the blood, and when it got around to the brain and the Yeerk had to breathe- poof. Scratch one Yeerk. I'd be glad to let you use the idea in Mayanites- just had this idea that maybe my character could invent it and that's how you could give me credit. But yeah, you're welcome to use it. And about the DNA rejection- I was thinking about Rachel and her crocodile DNA that she rejected at the time, and thought why not use that idea. Except it seemed weird to me to reject the DNA in a body form, even though it didn't have a soul, but I needed Sam to fool the yeerks. So I put that bit in about Zak thinking it was immoral, because it seemed that way to me a bit. I don't know if I'll bring it up later or not.

DH-Honestly- I forgot about Zak's parents. Let's just pretend that everybody got the shot- whoops! Thanks for pointing that out. And hhhhmm…are you sensing anything? I wouldn't know your senses. But (Spoiler here) I've got something planned in a later book that you will probably like…just hang in there. And thanks for reviewing! I put off updating waiting for your review, which is why this chapter is a little late.

Chapter 5- Alanthi-Estana-Illinia

My name is Alanthi-Estana-Illinia. I am an Andalite scientist. I have been an official scientist for almost one earth year, ever since last warm season. It stands out in my mind because last warm season is when I and a few other Andalites landed for a scouting mission on the planet Earth, and found something we did not expect- another Andalite. His parents had crashed years ago in a similar scouting mission, and he was the only survivor. Raised by humans and befriended by them, Zantar-Semityr-Dantil had no wish to leave the planet he still calls home. And I had not spoken to him lately when I received the very unexpected call from planet earth.

(Zantar?) I asked, knowing full well it had to be him. He was the only being on earth with a Z-space transponder. Unless…no. That would be impossible. And only Zantar would know my personal number.

(Hi, Alanthi,) he said, appearing on my screen. I quickly cast a hologram around my workstation, not wanting my fellow scientists to see our conversation. I was supposed to be working.

(Zantar,) I hissed, (why are you calling me? I'm very busy at the moment.)

(I know.) I noticed he had a distressed look on his face, and wondered why. (But Alanthi, this is urgent. The Yeerks are invading Earth.)

He said it very grimly. My heart gave a jerk, and then quieted. Perhaps it was a joke. (Zantar, if this is a version of human humor, it is not very funny. Now, I have to get back to…) Just then, Sabrina appeared on the screen. She is Zantar's human friend, and the basis for my human morph. And she was holding a plastic bag with a Yeerk in it.

I swear, my stalk-eyes rose five inches higher. Then I said a brief thought-speak command, and turned back to Zantar. (I am patching you through to Dathran-Essparon-Trakoth. He is the War-Prince in charge of organizing attacks on Yeerk-infiltrated planets and therefore must know their positions. He will know what to do. And please act respectful!) I said quickly, before Zantar was turned over to War-Prince Dathran. And I watched their conversation.

(Report, Zantar-Semityr-Dantil.)

(Yes, sir. The Yeerks are occupying planet Earth.) I wanted to slap him with my tail-blade. Dathran already knew this. He wanted a report on the number of ships in orbit, if there was a ground-based Yeerk pool, and who was in charge of the invasion.

Zantar was lucky. Dathran only looked slightly annoyed at this naïve answer, knowing Zantar's condition.

(I would like a more detailed report than that, young Zantar. How many ships do they have? How many Controllers have they taken? Who is in charge of the invasion?)

Zantar swallowed. (Uh, my human friend can probably tell you more. She was made a Controller for three days before I noticed and removed her Yeerk.)

I could see that Dathran's patience was being tried, but he said, (Very well, human. Give me your report.)

"My name is Sabrina, sir," said Sabrina, head held high. To use a human expression- uh-oh. Never talk back to a War-Prince.

Dathran's tail raised quickly, and he grated out, (Very well, _Sabrina_, give me your report.)

Not shaken at all, Sabrina said, "Yes, sir. I know there are a number of Bug fighters on the planet, and surrounding it. There is also a pool ship. I am unaware of any other ships. As for the number of human-controllers, there are over a thousand at least. I don't know the exact number. But there are several Hork-bajir and Taxxons in the Yeerk pool complex, which is underground. Free humans are unaware of the invasion. And oh yeah, the Yeerk in charge of the invasion- he is Visser Three."

I gasped. Visser Three is a highly positioned Yeerk, but more than that, he is the only Yeerk to take an Andalite host. Having him in charge of the invasion meant that humans must be a major goal for the Yeerks. Even Dathran was slightly shocked. Still, he continued. (Thank you, Aristh Zantar, for your report.) This was unexpected. Aristh is the title of a young person working for the military or training for it. And Zantar was considered a civilian. Perhaps he was being entered into the military for his report, which was a strictly military call.

Then the War-Prince spoke to me. (Scientist Alanthi, thank you for the notification of this call.)

(War-Prince Dathran, what is the military going to do about the invasion of Earth?) I was concerned; if we did nothing, Zantar might possibly die. Or he could be infested.

Visibly angered, he replied, (We will send a Dome Ship out there. We'll even put Prince Elfangor on it; would that ease your mind?)

(Yes, War-Prince,) I said, vastly relieved. Prince Elfangor was one of our best fighters. If anyone could stop the invasion of Earth, it was him.

Releasing the connection with the War-Prince, I spoke again to Zantar. (Sabrina became a Controller?) I asked, incredulously. We spoke for a bit more, about what had happened. Zantar told me he had starved the Yeerk out. Then I said, (Well, do not worry, Zantar. We are sending a Dome Ship to defend Earth. And one of our best fighters, Prince Elfangor will be going. Earth will soon be free.)

(Yeah. Anyway, it was great talking to you, Alanthi. Even if it was under dire circumstances.)

(Yes. Good-bye, Zantar.)

(See ya, Alanthi.)

I disconnected, confident that Zantar was safe. Earth would be free within months.

Little did I know how wrong I was.

A/N- I wasn't sure which council Andalite Zak should contact, knowing little about the Andalite military, so I made a position and a character up. Hope there wasn't any confusion there.


	6. Chapter 6 Bri

A/N- Sorry So Short, I'll try to update sooner next time. I wanted to show things from Bri's point of view again, before we get to a long chapter by Zak, so here goes…

But first, Review Responses

DH-Nope, Alanthi didn't just vanish, but you won't be seeing her for awhile now. I did think about having Zak and Bri at the construction site, but that's way too cliché for me. So I came up with something else- you should be able to guess it by the end of the chapter. No, Ax and Zak aren't related…but two other certain Andalites are. I'm not revealing that yet though. And- Cassie's brother or father? Where did you come up with that idea? Zak isn't related to the other Animorphs, and neither is Bri, just to let you know.

Chessrook44- They can catch human signals, and probably Yeerk signals, but Andalite technology? I'm doubting that, although maybe it was in the books somewhere. Anyway, in this fanfiction, that doesn't happen because I didn't think of it. Sorry.

Morph- glad you liked that I included that!

There is Hope- Wow, you read my mind. That's basically what happens in this chapter, about the fighters. Will I let earth be taken by the Yeerks? You'll just have to read and see.

Korean Pearl- I can't wait for Nadar 3, mainly because I want to see how I'm portrayed. But I also just love reading your fics- its almost the end of September. I'm waiting for another update! And thanks for your compliments!

Lilmaniac- Thanks for your review! Here is the next chapter…

Traycon3- Thanks!

Chapter 6- Bri

We hung up with Allie after talking to some cranky old Andalite, with the news that a Dome Ship was coming to the rescue. In comes the cavalry. Except it didn't happen that way.

Sam arrived at Zak's house in an alien bird morph, and morphed into Kelbrid. She had lost her human DNA when she had dispelled a human body into the river to fool the Yeerks. She ended up having to perform a Kacheet with DNA from Zak's parents, Mom's human morph, and me. She became a completely different person, and so did Mom and I. It took a few nights of sleeping at Zak's house before our new identities were established. One for me too, because I would be re-infested should a human Controller see me in my own body. A new human morph was no problem for Mom and Sam, who could stay in morph for an unlimited time. But I had Andalite morphing technology, not Kelbrid, and I had a two-hour limit. I did not want to become trapped in someone else's body.

I traded my black, Asian hair for brown with blond highlights. And I became Sandra Landen instead of Sabrina Johnson. I wanted to be Briana because then I could at least keep my nickname, but mom said the Yeerks would catch on. There isn't anything short and catchy you can do with Sandra. Sandy? Don't like it much, but it'll have to do.

I ended up going to a new school, and Zak came along. But I had to pretend I didn't know him during those first few weeks, which was hard. I ended up making friends with some girl named Rachel, who really knows how to shop, especially for clothes, and a girl named Kathy who is a huge science fiction fan. I thought about telling her about Zak, because she would be so excited, but if she's a Controller… I couldn't take the chance. Not with Rachel either. It was hard making new friends because I knew I'd never be able to confide in them as much as I'd like to. Still, I've got Zak.

So the summer ended, we went back to school, and life was normal. As normal as it could be using the restroom between periods to demorph to my original body. As normal as life could be knowing that anyone around me could be a Controller. And Zak and I did nothing. We figured the Andalites would take care of everything, so we did nothing. But the Dome Ship didn't come.

It was October when I finally looked through Zak's telescope and saw red and green flashes in the night sky. "Zak! Look at this!" And soon we could see the flashes with our bare eyes. It was definitely an outer-space battle, although the news-people reported it as a meteor shower later. We watched late into the night, until we had to go to bed because of school. And we had no idea who won.

The next day, I expected to see something about Andalites on the news. Or maybe about Yeerks. Something that said, "Hey, aliens invaded earth, there is life in outer-space!" But there was nothing.

In fact, there was nothing for the next few months. Zak and I were too afraid to actually go to the Yeerk pool and see if anyone was home. We wanted to let the Andalites take care of it. We had done our job, we had informed them. Now they were supposed to come through for us. But none came.

Sometimes I thought of my promise to Alloran. I had to free him. I had sworn to. I knew he was living his life in despair, knowing I was free, perhaps waiting for me to fulfill my promise. But I was afraid. Let the Andalites handle it.

We waited for four months, without any sign. It was February before we finally found out what happened, before we finally did something brave. It was February when Zak began having dreams of the ocean.


	7. Chapter 7 Zak

A/N- Sorry I was late at updating…I've been busy with school and stuff…yeah. But here's the next chapter!

Review Responses

DH-Thanks! And yeah, there were connections between the Animorphs, but, 'why would Zak be connected to Cassie?' was really my question. Anyway, next chapter…sorry so late!

Chessrook44- I did read that book, but had forgotten most of it. thanks for reminding me.

KP-You'll have to wait to find out about the DNA thing, but I do mention it later. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

There is hope- What will they do? Read to find out!

Traycon3- I meant _the _Rachel, the one from Animorphs, except no one else noticed! Good job at spotting that.

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Chapter 7- Zak

Blue. Blue all around. I was underneath the water. (Help!) A thought-speak cry, in my head. Strange blue-green grass, and alien trees. An Andalite face.

(Aaaaah!) I woke up sweating. It was another one of those weird dreams. I kept having them, night after night. Before, they had been very blurry. I wasn't quite sure what the dream was about before, but now I knew. I had seen a face, an Andalite face, underneath the water. An Andalite was crying for help!

I wasn't sure what to do, but I knew I had to talk to Bri.

Once at school, I had to wait for three periods before it was lunch and I had a chance to talk to her. I walked over to her table, where she sat with her friend Rachel and some girl named Cassie.

"Uh, Sandy?" I asked, calling her by her false identity.

"Yeah?"

"Can I talk to you? Its kind of important." Rachel and Cassie gave me some weird looks, but Bri got up. We walked to a table at the far end of the room.

"This better be important. Rachel is going to think you have a crush on me, and we're supposed to be pretending we don't know each other well."

"Yeah, I think this qualifies as important. Look, remember those dreams I've been having?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, I had another one last night. And now I know what it means."

Bri raised her eyes skeptically. "Your dream meant something?"

"Well, I saw- I saw an Andalite. Under the water. And he was crying for help. I think an Andalite is in trouble."

She pursed her lips. "You're sure?"

"How can I be sure? But it felt so real. And I heard the thought-speak."

"Okay, so there's an Andalite in trouble in the ocean. What can we do about it?"

I got frustrated. "Bri- I mean Sandy- we have to do something! Maybe the Andalites lost the battle. Maybe this one knows something."

"Maybe he does. Burt what can we do?"

"We can morph. We can morph something and rescue him."

"Zak…" We hadn't morphed often this year, other than our regular human morphs. Bri morphed Andalite sometimes. And we each had sparrow morphs- the only kind of bird we could catch to touch. But we hadn't planned on fighting Yeerks or rescuing Andalites. We had no morph for this.

"We can morph dolphins and look for the Andalite. In fact, we should. We can't stand around and do nothing anymore."

Bri sighed. "Okay, then. Where can we get dolphin morphs?"

"At the local zoo- the Gardens."

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(You know this is crazy, right? It's a horrible plan. Land and demorph in the dolphin pool? Won't someone notice us?)

We were flying toward the Gardens in sparrow morph. Our plan was simple, yet as Bri said, it had a lot of holes in it.

(You could just have asked your friend Cassie if we could pet the dolphins. Doesn't her mom work here or something?)

(Yeah, but don't you have to be in your own form to acquire a morph? Cassie would freak if she saw me suddenly turn Asian and you become an alien. And there's no way she'd let us be alone with the dolphins.)

(Oh. Yeah.)

Which is why, ten minutes later, two sparrows sat on the edge of the dolphin pool, waiting for a group of kids to leave. If we had looked closer, we might have recognized the group, but we weren't paying attention at the time. We were anxious to acquire and get out of here.

Once the kids were gone, Bri and I demorphed. The dolphins watched us with clicks of interest, wondering how two birds could become human, and something they'd never seen before. Two came close enough for us to tough.

"How do you tell if they're male or female?" Bri wondered.

(I have no idea. It doesn't really matter, does it?)

"I guess not," Bri grumped. "I'd rather know what gender I am though."

Done with the acquiring, Bri and I speed-morphed to sparrow before some trainer could come in and see an alien petting the dolphins. And we quickly got out of there.

It was a few days later before we tried out the dolphin morph. It was new, and different from anything we'd ever morphed. We had never morphed a water animal. And Bri was not very happy about the plan.

The dreams were more intense every night. I got flashes of the seabed around the alien, who seemed to be in a clear, glass dome. And a few flashes of falling toward the surface of the water, which was about 20 miles out from land. But I really didn't have a good idea of where the Andalite would be. Bri wanted to be sure of where we were going.

"I mean, what are we going to do, swim around until we see something? Demorph in the middle of the ocean?"

(Yes.)

"I don't like this idea. What if we never find him and we get too tired to swim back to shore?"

(That won't happen,) I said confidently, although I really wasn't sure of this plan myself. I just knew that if an Andalite was in trouble, I had to try and help. And Bri wouldn't let me go alone.

We were at the edge of a river that led to the sea, where no one could watch us morph. And we were getting ready to swim without any idea where our goal was. Our outer clothing was stashed by the river in a tree, where hopefully no birds would make a nest in it or anything.

"You know, this reminds me of that super hero movie- Spider-man. He rips off his outer clothing and goes swinging off to save the day. Except we're taking off our outer clothing and going swimming off to save the day. We're going to turn into dolphins, which would be cool, except we have no idea where to go once we are dolphins. And, oh yeah, Spider-man had a great costume. I have a black leotard that is very drab. I should have let Rachel help me pick out the leotard."

(You didn't know her when you got it. Besides, what you're wearing won't matter in dolphin morph.)

"I know. I'm just talking aloud. Okay, lets do this."

We waded into the water of the river and began to change.

The first thing I noticed is that my fur turned into gray blubber, while Bri's face stretched out and out into a dolphin grin. My tail twined with my back legs to become a dolphin fluke, while my arms shrunk into dolphin flippers. My front legs disappeared all together. When my face finally stretched out into a dolphin grin and a blowhole appeared in the back of my neck, I knew I was done. I looked at Bri out of a dolphin eye.

(Well, Flipper, lets go look for our lost Andalite.)

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Being a dolphin is incredibly fun. That is, once you're in the open ocean. In the river, it was too shallow to flip and jump and race like I wanted to. But once we reached the sea, we let loose.

(Yeee-haaa!) Bri shouted, jumping out of the water. (This dolphin sure knows how to have fun!)

(Let's jump at the same time!) We did. Then we did some flips, and finally began to play tag. It must have been an hour later that Bri suggested that maybe we should concentrate on swimming hard to reach the distance I suspected the Andalite was. So we did. It wasn't as fun, but it paid off in the end.

We did end up demorphing in the middle of the water, which was not very fun. But Bri is a good swimmer, and with four legs I can certainly keep myself afloat, so we were okay, but it wasn't pleasant. I was relieved to be a dolphin again.

In that second morph, I learned to push sound waves out through my forehead and receive a picture back. (Whoa!)

(What?)

I'm, I'm seeing things underwater. I'm seeing sound wave patterns. Watch! I did it again.

(Wow! I think that's called echolocating. Cassie told me about it when I asked her about dolphins.)

(You asked Cassie about dolphins?)

(Yeah, I wanted to be prepared for the morph. I guess I just forgot about the sonar part.)

(Oh.) That's when I picked up a new image on the sonar. A huge sort of dome thing, underneath the water. My dolphin brain wasn't interested in it. It wasn't anything the dolphin could eat or play with. But my Andalite brain was definitely interested. See, huge domes don't just appear naturally underneath the ocean. It had to drop from somewhere, and I was pretty sure that this dome was not a human creation. It was alien.

(Bri!)

(What?)

(There it is!)

There _what_ is?

(The Andalite. Or, well, part of an Andalite ship, I think. See…well, not _see_, but _sense_ the huge dome in the water? I think that's what we're looking for.)

Bri echolocated. (Oh!)

(Come on. We should hurry.)

I took in a lot of air. We might not reach the surface for a while. Then I signaled to Bri, and we dived.

Down, down. As we got closer to the dome, I could see inside. Not with sonar, but with dolphin eyes- there was no mistaking this thing for human now. It was like a park at the bottom of the sea, a park in a glass dome. Or whatever Andalites use for glass, because this was very strong. Glass would have shattered upon hitting the water. Inside the dome was blue-green grass and weird asparagus trees. In the center of the park was a clear blue pond that had crystals growing out of it. Yeah, this was definitely not something from planet Earth.

(Look at the side. I think that's a hatch or something,) Bri said.

(Yeah. We should try and get inside.)

We swam down to the hatch, and stared.

(It doesn't have any handles,) Bri observed.

(I think Andalites are more sophisticated than that. I think they've advanced technologically beyond handles.)

(Stop it.)

(Stop what?)

(Stop acting so smart-alecky. If there aren't any handles, how do we get inside?)

(Bri. See the red panel by the door? That would be the doorbell,)I said.

(Oh.)

(Besides, if the door did have handles on it, we'd be stuck out here. Dolphins can't open doors with handles.)

(Shut up!) Exasperated and annoyed, Bri jammed her snout against the panel. (Ouch!)

We swam into a little room, probably the airlock, with me laughing all the way. I made a big deal of pressing the second red panel ever so gently, closing the outer-door and starting to drain the water. I was still laughing as we began demorphing.

(Shut up you little…) Bri lost her ability to thought-speak as she made the transition from mostly dolphin to mostly human. I went from mostly dolphin to mostly Andalite.

Finally we were both demorphed. Bri glared at me. "You know, you think you're so smart don't you, just because you come from an advanced alien race that has developed panels instead of doorknobs…" She couldn't get any farther without cracking up.

When we finished laughing, I turned to Bri, more serious now. (I think you should morph to Andalite. The Andalite in there isn't going to expect a human, and you remember what happened the last time you caught an Andalite unawares. We can explain the whole thing later.)

"Okay, fine. I don't want to be knocked out again, anyway."

When Bri was fully morphed, I pressed my hand to the final panel, opening the door, and we stepped onto alien grass.

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A/N- Yay! I finally found a page-breaker that doesn't erase!


	8. Chapter 8 Bri

A/N- I'm depressed 'cause I lost many reviewers. Oh well, this story isn't as good as the one before it anyway. But thanks to you guys who stick by me! You are greatly appreciated.

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Review Responses

DH-Call her Bri or Sandy, but I will be referring to her as Bri during the story. And Zak seems human because he's been influenced by those around him…but he gets A's in all his classes, being so smart. They can't get other morphs except those they find in the woods, because they'd have to be in their original forms.

KP-You're welcome, and this chapter should show some reactions, although I'm not sure how good it is. And yes! Please update! It's October…

Traycon3- Nope, no one else spotted her. Here's the update!

Chessrook44-I tried it, it didn't work.

Morph- Thanks for reviewing!

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Chapter 8- Bri

This was one of the strangest encounters I had ever had. Oh sure, I've met Andalites before. But always on familiar ground.

When I first met Zak, my sister had taken me up to his cabin in the mountains. And I was a toddler at the time, so I didn't think it was all that strange to see a blue centaur with extra eyes in the middle of the living room. I just giggled and said, "Pony!" And we were friends ever since.

My second encounter with Andalites didn't start out all that well, because as soon as Allie saw me, she knocked me out. My third Andalite experience occurred when I was chained to a wall. But all three times I was still in a fairly familiar setting. This was on Andalite ground.

There was only one Andalite in the dome, and a young one at that. He was about Zak's age. And oh yeah, he was holding a weapon that looked an awfully lot like a Yeerk Dracon beam.

However, as soon as he saw us, he dropped his weapon. He looked at us, almost gratefully, but there was a lot of pride there too. (You heard my call?)

Zak turned a stalk-eye to look at me. Then he said, (Yes. We…I heard you. We came to help.)

(What of the battle? Was it won? Have you heard news of my brother? His name is Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul.)

(I…I don't know what happened in the battle. I was hoping you would know.)

The Andalite seemed confused. Then he narrowed his main eyes. (Who are you? Why do you know nothing?) Then, glancing at me, he said, (Why are arisths sent to rescue me? Where are the warriors? There were no other arisths on my Dome Ship.) He held his tail up, ready to defend himself.

(I'm not from your Dome Ship. My name is Zantar-Semityr-Dantil. And this is my friend, Sabrina.)

(Sabrina is not an Andalite name,) the Andalite said. (Who, or what, is your companion, and why doesn't she speak?)

(She is not Andalite. She is human, with the morphing power. I can explain…) Zak said, as the Andalite raised his tail even further, and backed away. I decided that maybe I should demorph.

Demorphed, I turned to the Andalite. "Look, my name is Bri. And this is Zak. We really came here to help! We're friends. Just friends with a very strange, long story."

The Andalite had retrieved his dropped weapon, and he pointed it at me. (Tell me your story,) he demanded.

"Touchy," I muttered under my breath. Then Zak started to tell the story.

Before he got very far, however, the Andalite interrupted. (You expect me to believe that you were raised by humans?) he asked incredulously.

(Yes. I was alone on earth for about twelve years, never going out in public on earth. My mother was very paranoid.)

(Your human mother.) The Andalite said, not quite believing it.

(Yeah.)

The Andalite shook his head. (It isn't possible. The story you are telling is unbelievable.)

(Anything is possible. Believe it.)

(I am very confused. You speak like a human, and your companion is a human. How can I be sure you are not human yourself, trying to fool me into revealing secrets of the Andalite race?)

Zak sighed. (Watch this,) he said, and morphed again. Not to human, but to sparrow. See you can only morph from your base form, not from one morph to another, so Zak had to be Andalite.

When Zak returned to his original form, the stranger said, (So. You are an Andalite with a human companion. It seems to agree with your story, and yet…) He paused. (Just continue,) he said finally.

When we got to the part with Allie, and the morphing power he said, (You gave a human the morphing power?) He exclaimed, a fire in his eyes. (It is against the laws of our people to give another species Andalite technology. You have done a great wrong!)

Zak held up his hands in defense. (I didn't know that at the time. But even if I had, I probably still would have done it. Bri is my friend. And her having the morphing power certainly paid off today.)

The Andalite thought about that a minute, then sighed (I suppose you can be forgiven,) he said, a bit grudgingly. (You were not informed. Continue your story.)

But the Andalite seemed the most surprised when Zak told him he had chosen to stay on earth instead of return with his people. (You would have been happier with your own kind. I cannot believe you chose to stay here with aliens.)

That made me mad. I was about to give that Andalite a piece of my mind, but Zak spoke first. (That was my choice. My family is here. It isn't really your place to judge my decisions,) he said calmly.

The Andalite looked uncomfortable. (Perhaps not. However, your decision goes against many Andalite beliefs. It is hard for me to imagine someone refusing to return with his people.)

(Maybe someday you'll understand,) Zak replied. I doubted that.

Zak finished telling how I had become a Controller. He mentioned that we had removed the Yeerk, but did not say how we did it. We were protecting the Kelbrid once again.

(I heard you calling, and we came to see if we could help. That's all.)

He stared at us for a long moment, before finally saying, (You were right. Your story is long and complicated. Then, (What do we do now?)

"We should get out of here. My mom and Zak's parents will be furious," I said.

(Wait,) the Andalite said. (You are sure you know nothing about my brother, or the battle?)

I shook my head. "Nothing. I'm sorry."

He was downcast. (If the battle had been won, I would assume that earth would know of the Yeerk invasion. If you know nothing, then I believe the battle was lost. I can only hope my brother survived.)

Then he turned to us. (You know about the Yeerk invasion. What have you done about it?)

Zak and I glanced uneasily at each other. "Nothing."

(You have taken no action?)

(We are only two people. There was not much we thought we could do! And we were counting on the Andalites.)

(We must do something now, though. The Andalites will not return to Earth for another two years, even if they started the journey now. Z-space has reconfigured.)

I was shocked. "Two years? Then there is no hope. There's only the three of us. What can we do?"

(There is your mother and sister,) Zak reminded me, privately. But I couldn't respond, because I didn't want the Andalite to know they were Kelbrid. Besides, I was fairly sure mom wanted nothing to do with war. She had been in the Kelbrid military before going undercover to study Andalites, and her days there were not happy. Sam might help, but that would mean revealing her species to this stranger. It seemed like we might have no choice though.

"Listen, we really should leave. Um, by the way, you know our names, but we don't know yours." I waited.

The Andalite hesitated before replying, (I am Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthil.)

I nodded. "Hey, Ax."

Ax was confused. (What is the purpose of this one-syllable name?)

Zak laughed. (Bri has a thing with long names. She calls me Zak. She's shortened your name to Ax.)

"Ax, do you have a water morph? We're going to need to swim. A lot."

Ax bobbed his eye-stalks. (I have acquired a sea-creature.)

"Okay, then. Let's move out"

We headed for the hatch. When the room began filling with water again, I started the dolphin morph. By the time the door had opened, I was fully dolphin. Three sea animals swam out into the ocean- two dolphins and a…_shark?_ Ax had morphed a shark.

(Um, Ax? You morphed a shark,) I pointed out.

(Oh. Is this wrong?)

(Not really. It's just that sometimes sharks attack dolphins. Which we have become.)

(Oh. I apologize.)

Zak laughed. (No need to apologize, Ax. Just don't go trying to take a bite out of us.)

(I will try to restrain myself from attacking you.) Zak and I cracked up at that, although Ax didn't understand it. Andalites aren't usually big on humor.

We swam to the surface, and Zak and I took another large breath. Ax didn't need to, because sharks are fish, not mammals. They can breath in the water.

(Okay, let's go.)

We swam. After demorphing in the water, Zak and I picked up an image on sonar.

(Ax, don't swim that way. There are a bunch of sharks attacking a pod of dolphins. We should make a large detour, so that you aren't tempted to join them.)

If the dolphins hadn't been busy, they might have noticed something strange about two dolphins and a shark swimming together peacefully. But they didn't notice anything. And by the time the fight was over, we were long gone.

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The next day, the dolphins who had been delayed by the shark attack returned to the ocean. They found the dome where an Andalite had stayed for over four months. But they were too late; Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthil was gone.


	9. Chapter 9 Zak

A/N- Wow! Suddenly a bunch of people reviewed again. Thanks you guys! This is a very short, and somewhat pointless chapter, so I apologize beforehand. Just basically leaving the ocean and getting to Zak's house- and his parents reaction- is shown here. Sorry!

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Review Responses

KP- In my first draft, that's exactly what happened. But then I thought it was too boring, plus everyone was trying to talk at once, and it just didn't work out. I'm going to be focusing more on Ax in my story than on the human Animorphs, so I figured I would have Bri and Zak meet him first.

LittleMidgett- Thanks for reviewing! Yes twisdts are cool. I didn't think this one was that dramatic, but everyone else seems to think so, so…

LilManiac- Glad you're still with us!

Panthergirl- Wow, you made up for lost time. Glad you liked the doorknob bit!

There is Hope- Did you ever get to the next chapter? Just wondering. Thanks for your review!

Chessrook44- They'll meet soon enough. But like I told KP, when I tried to have them all meet at once everyone had something to say and it was way too confusing, even for me. I still have the alternate version if anyone is interested in seeing how I would have them all meet at once, but I'm not sure where I'd post it…but anyway, trust me, they will hook up. Very soon.

DH- Well, I haven't totally sidestepped them. Just the way they meet. The next book will basically be a re-write on some Animorph books with the changes Zak and Bri left. And no, I'm not going to have Ellimist come in and fix everything- that is pretty cliché, if you don't mind my saying. Way too many 'after 54' fics have the Ellimist interfering to save the Animorphs' lives, in my opinion. I have a different idea- but that will have to wait. Zak/Bri- like I said, nothing big happens until the last book, but I might add something else in before that, if you're interested.

Morph- Thanks for the encouragement! How will things change? You'll have to read to find out.

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Chapter 9- Zak

We returned to the river-mouth, where we had morphed before, and demorphed.

"Ax doesn't have a human morph," Bri said. "And I would feel uncomfortable with him morphing me. So we'll have to take the long way to your house through the woods, Zak."

Bri stayed human, gathered up my human clothing, and scrambled onto my back. Ax stared.

(The human rides on your back?) he asked, incredulously.

"I am not just 'the human'. You know, my Yeerk called me 'the human' as well. I can't believe an Andalite would act similarly to a Yeerk," Bri said.

She scored a direct hit. (_Sabrina_ then. She rides on your back?)

(Yes. We did it before either of us could morph. She could morph Andalite and run with us, but it's sometimes easier to do things the old way.) I could see Ax was still surprised.

We took off through the forest, and soon had reached my parents house. (That is what a human house looks like?)

"No, that's a just a rock formation," Bri said sarcastically. "Yes, that's a human house, Ax. Zak's parents live there."

(Where does, Zak, live? An Andalite, even one raised by humans, would not want to spend much time surrounded by walls.)

(I live outside, in a sort of shed place. It's open to the sky and forest, and if it rains I'm welcome to go inside the house.)

(Ah.)

My mom came out of the house to greet us, although she didn't notice Ax at first. "Zak! Bri! Where have you been? Your mother was worried," she scolded.

(We were on a rescue mission, of sorts. We brought someone home with us.)

Then Mom noticed Ax. "Oh, my. Um, who…who is your friend?"

(Mom, this is Aximili. Ax. Ax, this is my mother.)

Ax bobbed his eyestalks at her. (I am pleased to make your acquaintance, Zantar's human mother,) he said formally.

"Uh, thank you, Ax." She looked questioningly at me. "What…where did he come from?"

(We rescued him from the bottom of the ocean. He was stranded there after his ship crashed,) I explained.

She frowned. "Zak! You went all the way to the bottom of the ocean without telling me?"

I averted my eye-stalks, showing my embarrassment the Andalite way. (Well, we didn't want you to worry. And he needed help.)

"You could have taken Samantha with you," Mom said, disapprovingly. Then she sighed. "Ah, well. What's done is done. Just don't do it again." She paused, thinking. "Does he have a way to get home?"

(No, Mom. His ship…crashed.) I really didn't want to tell my mother that those we had been counting on to free earth had lost a battle, so I edged around that. (Ax is stranded on earth for awhile.)

She sighed. "That's too bad. Well, then, he's going to need a place to stay." She smiled. "Ax, since there aren't any other Andalites for miles around, you're going to be staying with us."

(I am very grateful,) Ax assured her.

And that is how my parents found themselves hosting another Andalite.


	10. Chapter 10 Zak

A/N-Chapter dedicated to Chessrook44, who wants to see Zak, Bri, and Ax hook up with the 'morphs.

Review Responses

KP- I hate it when fanfiction/fictionpress doesn't let you review! It's so annoying. And everyone talking at once…you might see a bit of that in this chapter. As for your other question, I think it should be obvious by now, but…just read! And oh yeah- thanks so much for updating your story!

Panthergirl- Glad you found it funny!

DH-I'm re-writing the first chapter of my next book for you, with some B/Z action, but you'll have to wait for it…if you want it quicker, then review!

Morph- It's not changed all that much, but some stuff will change. Hope you like it!

Traycon3- Well, actually, about what happens to the Animorphs…just read to find out! Ax isn't necessarily not joining them, he's just not doing it at the expected time and place…

There is Hope- Jake and the others? Just read…

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Chapter 10- Zak

(So Ax, what do you think of earth?)

(The oceans of earth have very diverse life-forms.)

(Yeah, but what do you think of the land?)

(The trees are very different from the trees back home. Very strange. But I have not seen as much life in this forest. I did see a quadruped this morning, with large branches on its head, though.)

(That would be a deer.)

(Ah. I tried to communicate with it, but it did not respond. I assume that it was not sentient.)

(No, Ax. Humans are the only sentient creatures on earth.)

(That is, except for you and I. And Yeerks. And Hork-bajir. And…)

(I know! I meant native to earth.)

It was two days after Bri and I had returned with our Andalite guest, and Ax and I were out having dinner in the woods. Because Ax did not have a human morph yet, I had decided to keep him company instead of eating dinner with my family. And we were having a very interesting conversation.

Ax turned an eyestalk up to the sky as a large bird passed overhead. (What sort of a creature is that?) he asked.

(That's a bird. A hawk, I think.)

(Ah. Do hawks often travel in flocks?)

(No, I'm pretty sure they hunt alone…) I turned both my eyestalks upward. (That's funny. There are five of them. And they…they don't appear to be the same type of bird, either! I could swear I saw a bald eagle flying with the hawks.)

We watched as the birds swooped ahead of us and made a turn. Now they were passing above us once more. It was almost as if they were watching us.

(Ax…I have a bad feeling about this.)

(I do, too.)

(It looks like those birds are following us! But why?)

(Zantar…Zak, I believe we should run.)

(Right behind you.)

We reared and ran into the woods at the side of the meadow, where it would be more difficult for the birds to follow us. But they kept up. We jumped over fallen logs and dodged around the trees. Then we doubled back and ran toward my house.

(Are you sure we should go this way? We're leading them back to my house.)

(Yes. If we do not lose them, I have a plan.)

We reached the shed where Ax and I slept. Stopping and skidding from the speed, we turned around and looked at the sky. There were no birds in sight.

(I think we lost them,) I said to Ax. (But why were they following us in the first place?)

Ax didn't reply, but went into the shed instead. I turned back to look at the sky, and was astonished to see the birds landing in the clearing around my house.

(Aaaaaaah!) I shouted, surprised. The birds began to twist and mutate, all except for one. I was too shocked to realize that the birds were only morphing.

_TSEEEEEW!_

I jumped aside as a beam of green light shot out from the Shredder Ax was holding. The twisted mutations fell to the ground and laid still.

I turned to Ax. (_This_ was your back-up plan? To kill them?) I shouted angrily.

(I have not killed them,) Ax said calmly. (They are merely stunned. Unconscious.)

We stared at the bodies. Studying them more closely, I saw that the morphers were not changing into Andalites. No Andalite features were forming from the birds. No, instead I noticed human features.

(They are humans!) I exclaimed.

(This is very troublesome,) Ax commented.

(What do we do when they wake up?)

(I have no idea,) confessed Ax. (My plan did not go farther than this.)

(I should probably get Bri,) I said. But I made no move toward the phone.

Then the humans stirred. One of them tried to speak, but she was still mid-morph. The others seemed to demorph subconsciously, not really knowing where they were. When they were finally fully human, they seemed to notice us.

"What the…Oh. Please tell me that's a real Andalite and not Visser Three," said a short, dark-haired boy.

Without warning, Ax whipped his tail-blade forward. It stopped inches from the boy's face.

(Visser Three! Do not speak that name!)

"O-o-o-o-kay," The kid said slowly. "Whatever you want."

(Ax!) I exclaimed. (We don't know that he's an enemy. Let him go.)

(We don't know that he is a friend either,) Ax muttered, but withdrew his tail. The kid began breathing again.

I turned to the others. (Who are you?)

An African-American girl spoke. "We are friends."

She was oddly familiar. She and the other girl, the blond…(Cassie?) I exclaimed. (Rachel?)

The kids stared at me. "Did I miss something, or are Andalites suddenly psychic?" asked the kid Ax had threatened.

Ax narrowed his eyes. (How do you know of Andalites?)

Rachel, looking annoyed, said, "First tell me how you knew my name."

Ax spoke before I could, saying, (We will tell you nothing.)

It was like some weird game that kids play. You know, I won't tell until you tell. But I won't tell until you tell. But I won't tell until… Ax and I stared at the kids, and they stared back. Both sides had a secret, and nobody wanted to reveal anything until they were sure the other side could be trusted. We couldn't keep this up forever, though. One of us had to relent.

I was about to step forward and reveal my self to the kids, but a brown-haired boy spoke first. "Rachel, let it go. We have to trust them." So these kids must be desperate.

He turned to Ax. "We knew an Andalite, once. We were with him when he…when he was killed."

Ax's stalk-eyes quivered, but he showed no other reaction. (Who was this Andalite you say was killed?)

The boy looked to Cassie. She stared at the ground. "I don't remember all of his name. But part of it was Prince Elfangor."

Elfangor? Why was that name familiar? I searched my memory. Alanthi had mentioned it in her call. One of the best warriors in the Andalite military, she had said. But there was something else.

I swung a stalk-eye over to Ax, to see if he knew this Andalite. His face was filling with grief. Then I remembered. Elfangor was Ax's brother!

(Prince Elfangor? No one could kill Elfangor. He is the greatest warrior ever. No one could kill him!)

"Someone did," said the boy. "We were there."

(Who? Who do you claim killed Elfangor?)

"The one whose name you don't want us to speak," Cassie replied, softly.

Ax's tail drooped, and he finally lowered his Shredder.

(He was my brother. Did…did he die well? In battle?)

The boy answered. "He died protecting us, and defying the Yeerks to the end. At the very last moment he struck with every weapon he had."

Ax closed his eyes and backed away. It was clear he did not want to speak anymore, and it was my turn to speak.

(How do humans have the morphing power?)

Rachel answered. "This Andalite's brother gave it to us. To help us in the fight against the Yeerks."

That seemed to wake Ax up. He seemed disturbed, although it might have been because his brother was dead. (Elfangor gave that to you? It is never done! The situation would have been very bad for him to give it to you.)

I interrupted. (The situation on Earth is very bad, Ax. I don't blame Elfangor.) Then I turned back to the kids. (How did you find us?)

Cassie responded. "An Andalite called me. Called us. We thought he was in the sea. But when we searched, trying to help, we found no one. We figured that any Andalites that had been at the bottom of the sea had escaped, and were on land, so we kept a look-out for you." She grinned. "It was actually Tobias who found you."

I looked from the short boy to the brown-haired one. (Which of you is Tobias?)

But the reply was not aloud. It was in thought-speak.

(I am.)

My stalk-eyes stretched tall and I turned to look at the bird that had not demorphed, sitting in a tree. (You are still a bird,) I answered dumbly.

He answered with a grim laugh. (Yeah. I liked this morph so much I moved in permanently.)

Ax stared at him. (You are a nothlit? A person trapped in morph?)

(Yeah.)

Ax turned away. (You pay a great price for the gift of my brother, Elfangor.)

"Okay," Rachel interrupted. "You know all about us. How we know about Andalites. How we can morph. We've answered your questions. Now tell me- how did he know my name?" She said it a bit angrily, as if she felt violated or something.

I looked at Ax. (Should we trust them?) I asked privately.

(Elfangor trusted them,) he said simply.

(Okay, then.) I turned back to the group. (I have something to show you all.)

And with that, I began to morph.

"Hi," I said. I was now a human.

Rachel and Cassie looked at me, trying to remember. "Zak? That friend of Sandy's?" Rachel said, incredulously. "Or only a morph of Zak?"

"No, not a morph. I'm the real thing."

She stared. "How did you get an Andalite morph?"

"I am an Andalite. Not a human. But I pose as a human to go to school with Br…with Sandy." Seeing their inquiring looks, I hurriedly said, "No, Sandy isn't an Andalite. She's as human as you are."

The conversation ended with me telling my life's story for the second time that week. After several interruptions, they finally seemed to get it.

"So Ax was underneath the ocean!" Cassie exclaimed. "Only you got there before we did."

"Yes," I replied. But I still wanted to know more about them. "I still have questions about you though. But first, I need to know- What are the other boys names? They are not in any of my classes."

"I'm Jake," replied the brown-haired boy. "And this is Marco."

"Hey."

I nodded. "So, now that you can morph, what do you do? How did Tobias become trapped?"

Jake hesitated. Then he said, "You told us your story. I guess we can return the favor. When we found out about the Andalites, we also found out about the Yeerks. And we decided that we couldn't just sit back and do nothing. So we fight them"

Then it all came pouring out. How they had seen an Andalite fighter crash in the middle of a construction site. How they saw Elfangor murdered. Their first trip to the Yeerk pool, Tobias becoming trapped, infiltrating a Controller's house, attempting to destroy a Yeerk truck-ship. And of course, searching for Ax.

When it was over, Jake still had more to say. "I guess we haven't fought as much as we can. We've only been to the Yeerk pool once. And we've never fought in a battle after that. Not really. But we're going to stand up to the Yeerks." He looked at us, oddly, almost pleading. "We can't do it alone."

I felt guilty. Up until now, I had done nothing. Nothing against the Yeerks. Those five humans had more courage than I would ever have, but I realized I couldn't sit back anymore. I couldn't let someone else fight my wars for me. Earth was my planet, wasn't it? I had chosen it. I couldn't let the Yeerks take that away.

Ax seemed to be thinking. Then he said, (You five humans have fought alone. You resist the Yeerks against all odds, you risk your lives to try and help an Andalite. You are very brave.)

Marco laughed. "Yeah, we like to think that."

"It is true," I interrupted. "You have all done incredible things."

Then Ax spoke again. (I cannot return to my people for a long while. The reinforcements will take one, maybe two years to reach Earth.) Jake and the others looked worried at that, but Ax plowed on. (I am marooned here, but I can still fight.) He looked over them, searching. (Who is your prince?)

The others all looked at Jake. "Oh, give me a break," Jake said. "I am not anyone's prince."

But Ax had already stepped forward. He bowed his head and lowered his tail. (I will fight for you, Prince Jake, until I can return to my cousins.)

Ax backed away, looking at me meaningfully. I knew what he wanted me to do. But I wasn't ready! I had no idea how to fight!

(I can teach you how to use your tail, Zak,) he said, privately.

I took a deep breath. I had to remember this was my world. And no matter what, freedom was worth fighting for.

"That goes for me too. I- I never had a prince, being raised on earth, but I want to help stop the Yeerks. And I know Bri will want to as well."

Ax smiled at me. I let a breath out, slowly. What had I just committed myself to?

To freedom.


	11. Chapter 11 Bri

A/N-hey everyone! I'm sorry it's been so long since I updated. I just haven't felt inspired! My inspiration is turning to other sources, rather than Animorphs, and so unless it comes back, this might be the second to last chapter you read about Zak and Bri. I'M SORRY! But you really don't want to read my uninspired writing. Then it begins to feel like a chore, which is why I've delayed updating. Once again, my apologies to everyone. It is still possible I'll become inspired again, I just don't know when. And I don't want to end up with a half-written story when I leave! I know that 'my inspiration has left me,' is a really lame excuse to leave readers hanging…and I'm hoping it comes back…and I'm suddenly feeling sorry for K.A. because of her criticized ending as well. But anyway, on that note…

**Review Responses**

Morph- Nope, I wasn't planning on going through the whole series, just touching on a few points that would be interesting for Zak (Most books I planned on rewriting were Ax ones, because of the Andalite interaction.)

DH- I know you review! I meant tell me in a review, but I got my wording wrong. No offense meant. But really, thanks for the compliments! I'm glad you like my writing.

Chessrook44- Yep, he almost revealed Bri's name, because he's accustomed to calling her that. It won't matter anyway, because the Animorphs are going to find out soon enough who she is.

KP- I guess it did take insanely long. I'm sorry! But thanks for the compliments! It is really hard to write a conversation and include everyone at regular intervals…kind of like playing the Sims with a house with more than two people.

Panthergirl- Thanks for reviewing!

LilManiac- Thank you for reviewing

There is Hope- Ah, thanks? I've got nothing left to say!

Traycon3- Uh, thanks gain! Here's the next chapter.

Bunnyasha- Thanks for your review! Even though I'm not sure you'll check this page again (I haven't had time to review your other fics) I'm posting my thanks here. See ya later!

Chapter 11- Bri

I can't believe I missed it! A whole confrontation with morphable humans, two of which turned out to be good friends of mine, and who were fighting against the Yeerk force on earth, and I had to be at HOME!

I had to finish my homework that night, so there was no time to go visit with Zak and Ax. So there I am, working on boring and frustrating pre-algebra, when I hear a sound outside my window. So I look outside and see Zak and Ax standing there with these huge birds perched on them. Now, I like Zak, I really do. But seeing him outside my bedroom window, with birds all over him like something out of a Disney movie, was startling.

"Aaaaaahhh!" I shouted, before I finally realized who it was.

I shoved open my bedroom window. "Zak! What are you doing here with eagles and hawks all over you?" I practically screamed, embarrassed that I had been frightened.

Zak and Ax backed away, and I calmed down. "Sorry. You just startled me. But where, where, _where_ in the world does an Andalite get hawks to take a piggy-back ride on him?"

(In our crazy, bizarre, wacky, and totally insane corner of the universe,) said a voice that wasn't Zak's or Ax's.

I jumped. "Zak," I said in a low voice, "Am I just imagining things, or did that bird start to talk in thought-speak?"

(You aren't imagining things. The bird spoke. But actually he isn't a bird. He's like me. Like you.)

"Like me?" I asked, puzzled. "That bird is like me. Is that what you are trying to say?"

(Yes.)

"You're insane."

(Actually, I think we all are.) That voice again.

(Marco, shut up,) said another voice. Only this one was more familiar.

"Rachel?" I asked in amazement.

For an answer, all the birds dropped off the Andalites and began to mutate. I watched, fascinated. When they were done, they were transformed. Four human kids stood on the grass in front of me.

I swear, my eyes bulged out of my sockets. I had just watched my good friends, Rachel and Cassie, emerge from birds. So yeah, I was a bit startled.

"How did you guys do that?" I was shouting again. "How did you…" Zak put his hand over my mouth.

(Bri, it might be best if you don't inform the entire world that our friends can morph.)

I had to calm down again. "Okay, okay. Sorry." I stared. "So you guys can morph? How? Why?"

In the end, everyone climbed through my window, even the Andalites. Then in flew another bird.

"Who is he? Is he a real bird?"

(I'm solid, if that's what you mean,) said the hawk.

I sat down in my computer chair while everyone else perched on my bed. The hawk stood on the windowsill.

"Who are you? Why haven't you demorphed?"

(The name's Tobias. And as for demorphing, I haven't because I can't.)

I was a bit confused until Ax explained about nothlits. Then I just felt bad for Tobias. "I'm, uh, I'm sorry." I wasn't sure what else to say.

(It wasn't your fault,) he said shortly. And we dropped that subject. The next subject was on how Ax and Zak had found these morphers, or more precisely, how the morphers found them.

"I don't believe this!" I said. "You two meet a bunch of birds who are following you, see them twist and mutate, stun them, and don't bother to call me? Meanwhile, I'm stuck at home doing math."

Zak grinned. (Yeah, that's about what happened.)

I grumbled about this for a while until my curiosity got the better of me. Then I said, "So, how is it you guys can morph, anyway? I guess Zak's already told you my story."

And then I heard their story. How, on the night of the Dome Ship battle, an Andalite fighter had crashed in the middle of the construction lot, and its occupant had given the kids the morphing power. And how my friends at school had been keeping this secret from me for four months.

"I can't believe you didn't say anything," I said.

"Well, you never know who's a Controller and who isn't," Rachel said darkly.

"And besides," added Cassie, "You never told us that you were friends with an Andalite, could morph, and were actually Asian but looked Caucasian because of problems with Yeerks."

I stared at her. "Well Zak, you seem to have summed everything up well. Great. Now they know every little detail of my life."

"Yes, and now we will stalk you. We know where you live. You will never know who is watching, never know what animal could be spying on you," grinned one of the guys. I recognized him from school, but had forgotten his name.

Rachel punched him. "Cut it out! This is serious."

"Hey, I forgot your name. Who are you again? The village idiot?"

The boy grimaced. "Ouch," he commented. And then, "I'm Marco. And this is our great and fearless leader, Prince Jake!"

I looked at Jake, who was glaring at Marco. "Haven't I met you before? You're Rachel's cousin."

"Guilty as charged."

I was confused. "Why do they call you a prince?"

He groaned. "_They_ don't. Or at least, they aren't supposed to. Ax came up with it when he was looking for someone to pledge his loyalty to."

(Every warrior must have a prince,) Ax said, defensively.

"Ah," I said, getting it now. Then we all just sat there, until I thought to ask, "Zak, did you pledge your loyalty, too?"

He looked a bit guilty. (Well, um, yeah. And I kind of pledged yours too.)

"_What?_"

(Bri, look around you. You've been a Controller. You want to stop the Yeerks, don't you? If we stick with them, we have a chance.) He sighed, and then, more softly, said, (On our own, we can do nothing.)

I sighed, a bit grudgingly. The truth was, I had wanted to be there when this big meeting happened; I wanted to commit myself, not have someone else do it for me.

"Ah, oh fine. I'm in too. What did you call yourselves again?"

Later that night, I stood with Zak. The other morphers had returned home, and Ax was leaving us alone. We wanted to talk privately. I had even morphed Andalite so that no one but Zak would hear me.

(Do you trust them?) Zak asked.

I sighed. (I want to trust them. Two of them are my best friends. But this is… new.)

(They trusted us.)

(I know! I just…Mom said no Andalite should ever hear about the Kelbrid. She's afraid if the Andalites knew more they would want to start a war. If we told the Animorphs, we'd have to tell Ax as well.)

We were debating on whether to let the others know about the Kelbrid. The Kelbrid being my mother's species, an advanced feline race. They are far more advanced than the Andalites, and study them secretly, posing as Andalites. They also study other species. But one of their rules is that no alien that they study can know of them. My mother broke that rule and married an Andalite, telling him her true origin. He was killed for his knowledge, and Mom was banished. Sam is their only child.

Almost as if he knew what I was thinking, Zak said, (You're mother can't be blamed for this. She won't be in more trouble.)

(Yeah, but Mom has told me that the Andalites are very proud. They would shudder at the thought of a more advanced race studying them. There might be mass panic, or a war declared. So Ax would have to swear to secrecy. And we know that isn't likely.)

(We don't have another choice. We're already in the middle of an intergalactic war! We need to be able to trust our team-mates so they will return the trust. We have to work together.)

(So our only option is have Ax swear himself to secrecy, then. And trust his word.)

(Yeah.)

(Maybe Jake could order him to be silent. Ax considers Jake a prince.)

(That's possible, but it seems cruel. Like blackmail.)

(It isn't blackmail. And what other choice do we have?)

(Not many.)

(Okay, then.)


	12. Chapter 12 Zak

A/N- Last chapter, guys! Inspiration strikes slowly. It may be awhile til the next story goes up, if it goes up. Never fear, though! Even if I don't continue Zak/Bri's story, I have more ideas for the Animorphs- the best thing you can do to keep me writing is review!

**Review Responses**

KP- Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad you continue to read my stories. It means a lot to me! AndI always aprieciate your comments.

Traycon3- Thanks for reviewing! Glad you liked it.

Panthergirl- You get the info at the same time as everyone else- now. Thanks for your review!

DH- Thanks for your tips! I cranked out another couple chapters at home, and deleted many that weren't important to the story. But I'm hoping to post my next one soon, if I finish it! Thanks so much for your constructive comments throughout the series, they've been a big help. And thanks for sticking with me!

Morph- Hhhm. That's an idea, Megamorphs. I might do that. Thanks for reviewing!

There is Hope- The Kelbrid being feline is probably due to the fact that my favorite animals are cats, which you can tell by my pen name.

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Chapter 12- Zak

(Hey, guys. Jake said to tell you to visit Cassie this afternoon.)

I twisted an eye-stalk up. Ax and I were feeding again, and Tobias had dropped by. It was the morning after our encounter with the Animorphs.

(Why?)

(He says that you, Ax, and Bri should get some better morphs. Cassie's family runs a wild-life center, so there'll be plenty of animals for you to acquire. Then she'll take you to the Gardens to get some fire-power. At least, Bri needs some. Andalites are probably more dangerous in their own forms than any earth morphs, huh?)

I grimaced, and looked away. (Actually, I haven't really learned how to fight that well. I've grown up in seclusion.)

(I will teach Zak how to tail-fight,) Ax offered.

(That sounds good,) Tobias said. (I'll tell Cassie you'll be there. Bring Bri along, too.)

(Okay. Um, tell Jake that we need to meet at my house tonight, okay? Bri and I have more to tell you guys.)

(Really?)

(Uh, yeah.)

(Um, okay, I'll tell him.) I could tell Tobias was confused. Why hadn't we told everything before? But he said nothing about it. (See you guys.) He took off for Jake's house.

Ax turned to me. (What is it that you have not told them?) he questioned. (You seemed very thorough in your first report.)

(Yeah, well, this thing we have to tell will be news to you too, Ax.)

He seemed offended. What is it you have not told me?

(We need to tell everyone at once, okay? Wait a bit longer.)

After a long debate last night, Bri and I had decided to tell the Animorphs about the Kelbrid. And after our debate, Sam and Bri's mom had agreed that we could tell the Animorphs, as long as the information was not made widely known among Andalites. So Ax would have to keep secrets from his people. I felt bad about this, but we had no other choice. The Andalites could not know of the Kelbrid.

Ax fed in silence for the rest of the morning, obviously upset that we had not told him everything yet.

-----------------------------------------

We acquired our main morphs that day. At Cassie's barn, we acquired transit morphs. Bri acquired a female sharp-shinned hawk, which bit her before she could acquire it, and Ax and I both acquired the same Northern Harrier. Then it was off to the Gardens to acquire some power.

Walking down the halls behind the cages, Cassie said, "If you see an animal you'd like, just tell me and we can stop and acquire it." She grinned. "I have almost all these animals inside me. I couldn't wait to experience each animal at first."

Ax and I were in human morph, of course. We would attract too much attention as ourselves. Yesterday, Ax had acquired all of the human Animorphs and performed a Kacheet, or a Frolis maneuver in the Andalite language. Now he looked like a strange and pretty human boy, with a bit of each person mixed in- Marco's hair, Rachel's face with Cassie's eyes and somehow Jake's ears. And this was his first time in morph.

Cassie had been surprised when Ax stuttered, "Oh! Ho. Th-this is vuh-ree in-tuh-rest-ing. Uh-ring."

Bri just rolled her eyes, grabbed him by the elbow as he began to fall, and muttered, "Here we go again."

Cassie asked, concerned, "What's wrong with him?" So we ended up explaining about Andalites in human morph.

Andalites, including myself, have a hard time in human morph with speaking, and eating. Since we don't have mouths, it is an entirely new experience. As I said earlier, I had taken a speech therapy class to rid myself of this habit, and was by now used to eating with a mouth. And I'm fully accustomed to using two legs instead of four. Ax, however, was not.

Bri and I were supporting Ax while we walked down behind the cages. As Ax said, "It-tuh is vuh-ree hard-duh to bal-al-ance. Ants. On two-oo legs-suh."

"Yes. Yeh-suh," I said, grinning as Bri kicked me for being a bad example.

We stopped by the Zebra's cage first.

Actually it was Ax who stopped first and caused Bri and me to fall down on top of him. When we stood, Ax remarked, "See? Suh-ee. It is dane-jer-ous. Us. To walk-awk on two legs-suh."

Cassie was laughing off to the side, while Bri was glaring. "It is not dangerous, as long as you walk the right way. What happened to you?"

"I merely-ly stopped. Opped. To ex-ex-amine the qua-quadrupeds. Upids."

"What quadrupeds?" I asked.

"Those." Cassie pointed. "Zebra's are quadrupeds, or horse-slash-deer-like animals, with four legs."

"And-uh-lites are-ruh quadrupeds. Zzzz-zebras must be-ee very sensss-ab-ul to be quadrupeds."

Cassie sighed. "How did you put up with this?" she asked Bri.

Bri grinned. "Practice. But I think someday, it'll drive me mad."

Cassie went on to say, "Just because it walks on four legs doesn't mean it's smart. Zebras can't be ridden like horses because they are ill tempered and don't obey well. And they are not the right size for humans anyway."

"What-tuh are-ruh hor-or-ses?" Guess who.

"We'll show you when we get back to Cassie's barn," I promised.

I didn't acquire many animals at the Gardens. I got a cool snake and a coyote, but not much else. Ax acquired a dolphin, in case we had to go out to sea again. But Bri acquired a seriously dangerous animal- black panther. She decided it would be her battle morph.

"I really like cats. And this one will blend in at night, as well as being fast and sleek," She explained.

When we were done touring the Gardens, we stopped by the snack shack on our way out. Big mistake.

We ordered nachos and sodas. If you read my description of Alanthi and I at the food court, then you know what Ax was like. Cheese smeared in his hair, soda on his shirt, and a piece of the carton of chips in his mouth before we could explain that it wasn't supposed to be eaten. We left the zoo early that day.

-------------------------------------------

I was early to Bri's house for the meeting that night. Ax had gone with Cassie to acquire and morph a horse, while we spoke with her family alone.

"So you're sure it's okay that we tell them your secret?" I asked for the thousandth time.

"Yes, Zantar," Bri's mother said. Her face grew pained for a minute. "But you must be sure they know the risks. You know that if the Kelbrid discover that an 'inferior' species has found out about them, they will annihilate the witnesses. If the Kelbrid ever come to this area to study the humans as they did the Andalites, your friends will likely be killed."

My stomach tightened; then I forced myself to relax. The Kelbrid would never come here, probably. It was unlikely. And yet…

I shook my head to clear it. Jake and the others needed to know. We were partners now. There could be no secrets between us, especially one like this. If only Ax would keep quiet, everything would be fine.

They arrived one by one, in bird morphs. All wearing their morphing clothes. All looking a bit suspicious. Cassie smiled at us, but there was still a bit of tension between the two groups- the Animorphs, and Bri and I. Ax stood alone, unsure who to side with. He knew us better, but he didn't know what we had to say tonight. So he was undecided.

We sat on opposite sides of the room, on two couches facing each other. When all were present, Marco spoke up. "So. I hear you've been keeping secrets."

Cassie frowned at him, but Bri said, "No, its fine. We just weren't sure if we could trust you. If we should trust you."

Rachel glared. "We're friends, aren't we, Sand- I mean, Bri? We've been friends for a while. And now we know each other's secret lives. So why not trust us?" I should mention that Rachel has a short temper.

Bri has a bit of an attitude as well. Glaring back at Rachel, she said, "Hey, I had a good…"

I interrupted. "What she means to say is, we had a good reason to keep this secret. This is information that could get you killed, should a certain alien race ever choose to visit Earth. But this is something you should know, if we're going to fight together." I turned to Ax. "None of you should ever tell anyone else this, especially you, Ax."

Ax frowned. (Why not? What is so dangerous?)

I pursed my lips. "Ax, if you're going to hear this, you need to promise us something."

(What?) He was getting suspicious.

"You need to swear you won't breath a word of this to any other Andalite. The Andalite race may not ever hear this information. They would be driven to war. And they would lose."

Ax was furious. (You cannot ask this of me! If it is important information, the Andalite high council must hear of it! I cannot withhold information from my people.) He glared. (And we have never lost a war yet.)

What with Bri and Rachel boring holes in each other with their eyes, and Ax twitching his tail-blade as if he might wish to strike me, you could cut the tension with a knife. Jake stood up and held up his hands.

"People! We can't get hung up on this issue. There's too much at stake for us to fight amongst ourselves." He turned to Rachel. "They had a valid reason for withholding information, and they are coming forward now. Let's just stay calm about this."

Marco grinned. "Yeah, Rachel. Breath. Relax. In, out, in, out…" Which of course made her only more mad. Jake frowned at him.

Then he turned to Ax. "Ax, can't you agree to this? If they believe it shouldn't be told, we have to trust them. Please."

But Ax was still quivering with indignation. (I cannot betray my people.) He stared at me with one stalk-eye. (Perhaps Zak wishes to do so. But I will not.)

My stomach churned with acid. I wasn't betraying the Andalites! I was protecting them! Wasn't I? Jake quieted me before I could even speak with a look. Then he turned back to Ax.

"Ax, will you at least consider it? You said I'm your Prince. Listen to what they have to say, and then make your decision. That's an order."

Ax glared a few moments more, then quieted. (Fine. But if I decide the council deserves to here this, then I will report it.)

Jake nodded. "Fair enough."

I sighed. It was probably the best response we would get from Ax. But we were still taking a risk.

Jake sat back down, and calmly waited, but Rachel wasn't so patient. "Okay. So what's the big secret? What are you here to tell us?"

Bri grinned for the first time since they came in. "Actually, we're not going to tell you anything."

(What?) That was Tobias, from his perch on the couch. He and Cassie had been quiet during this conversation. I gathered they were not the talkative ones of the group.

"What are you saying?" Rachel said, trying to conceal her annoyance.

"What I mean is, _we're_ not going to tell you anything. _She_ is."

Sam walked into the family room, and the others stared a bit.

Cassie asked, "That's your sister, right?"

Marco frowned. "You told your sister about this?"

"Actually, I knew about it the entire time," Sam said smoothly. "My name is Samantha. I was Zantar's caretaker when he was young."

(You had a babysitter?) Tobias asked.

I nodded.

"What kind of a person takes care of a baby alien?" Jake asked.

Sam smiled. "An alien." And she morphed.

The changes weren't that drastic. Sam still walked on two legs, and had two arms and a mouth. Fur lightly covered her entire body, but it was thin fur, and light skin colored. Her hair, which had been blond, became thicker and wavier, like a lions mane. Her eyes slitted into cat's eyes. Her ears became pointed, tipped with fur. Her fingernails turned to claws. And she grew a tail.

The other Animorphs, especially Ax, stared at her. It was Marco who commented, "It's nice to finally meet you, Catwoman." Rachel elbowed him.

Jake turned to Ax. "What type of alien is she, Ax?"

Ax shook his head, all four eyes on Sam. (I have never seen this type before.)

Sam spoke, in a lilting accent now. "I am Kelbrid."

Ax jerked visibly. (It cannot be. Kelbrid? No, it cannot be!) He said it with awe, though, as it he couldn't convince himself that it wasn't true.

(What are the Kelbrid, Ax?) Tobias asked.

Ax barely recovered. (The Kelbrid are a race the Andalites have a truce with. We know nothing of them. They know nothing about us. We do not cross into each other's territory, for to do so would start a war. We are both powerful, advanced races, so to avoid territory disputes and fighting, we created a truce.) He still seemed a bit in shock.

Sam smiled sadly. "A truce the Kelbrid did not keep, Aximili. The Kelbrid are more advanced than you think. Our morphing technology is far more advanced. They wish to study other species without being studied in turn. Thus they created the boundary for you. If a war did break out, Aximili, the Kelbrid would win. You can be sure of it."

Ax glared. (You lie!) He couldn't get anything else out.

"I'm sorry, Aximili. It is true."

(If it is true, then why would you tell this to me? Why do you reveal yourself to an inferior species?)

"I am not fully Kelbrid. My mother was Kelbrid, yes. She was a Kelbrid scholar and spy. But my father…" Sam began to morph again. Andalite this time.

Ax stared in disbelief. (Yes, Aximili. My father was Andalite. My mother fell in love with him while on the Andalite Homeworld. I am their only child.)

She sighed, sadly. (My father was killed by the Kelbrid when he discovered their secrets. And mother and I were banished to earth.)

Ax sat back, stunned at this information, while Marco waved his hand wildly. "Excuse me. Remember us? I have a question. Is your true form Kelbrid or Andalite?"

(Neither. And both. Whichever I want.)

Cassie frowned. "But you can't morph strait from one form to another. You have to pass through your true form first."

(That is with Andalite technology. Kelbrid can stay in any form for unlimited time, and morph strait from one form to another. We have no true form, although I am usually human.) She morphed human once more.

Then everyone was quiet for a while. Then Rachel said brightly, "Well, that's it? Kelbrid, huh? Are you Kelbrid too?"

Bri grinned. "Nope. I'm adopted."

Silence again. Then Jake turned to Ax, who was still shell-shocked. "Well, Ax? Are you going to report this to the Andalites?"

(I…I cannot believe it. Yet she is the proof. He paused. I can give no answer right now, my prince. I must think on this.)

Jake nodded. "Fair enough."

Then he turned to Sam. "How advanced are the Kelbrid?"

"Very advanced. We can hack easily into an Andalite computer. Because I have Andalite knowledge and instincts combined with Kelbrid, I am even smarter than the average Kelbrid."

Jake seemed to be thinking. "Then you could hack into the Yeerks computer record." It wasn't a question.

Sam nodded slowly. "Yes. But their records wouldn't be available from a human computer. I would need to be at the Yeerk computer itself to break in. And it would be heavily guarded. Such a mission… I could send a few Bug Fighters on wrong courses, maybe stir up some confusion. Maybe give them the wrong feeding schedules. Send a message to the Council of 13 that everything is hopeless. But they would suspect Andalite involvement. They wouldn't believe that type of message. I don't know what else I could do. Not enough to justify a trip to the Yeerk pool."

"It would be enough!" Rachel insisted. "I bet you could seriously mess the Yeerks up."

Sam shook her head. "You underestimate the Yeerks. I could get pass their passwords, rewrite some programs to be faulty, but it wouldn't be enough. It would not be worth it."

Jake nodded. "I understand. We may have to try it later, though. In the meantime…Sam, is there any chance of Kelbrid rescue? Would they ever consider destroying the Yeerks?"

Sam shook her head, her eyes snapping. "No. The Kelbrid would not come to anyone's rescue. Instead, they would study the situation. Study how well the humans and Andalites would resist the Yeerks. Study the invasion techniques of the Yeerks. They would record this information, and do nothing. After letting things run their course, they would learn what they could from it. All the Kelbrid care for is knowledge for themselves. They do not care of the perils of other species."

Jake sighed tiredly. "Okay, then. No Kelbrid help. Is there anything else you can offer us?"

"My mother is skilled in chemistry. She has a wide number of healing salves and poisons at her disposal. That is all we can offer besides shelter."

Marco said, "So. You have unlimited morph time. Did you ever consider harassing and defeating body-stealing aliens on suicidal missions as a part time job?"

She laughed. "No, actually." Her face grew more serious. "My mother has told me much of war. If you need help or backup, you can call on me."

"Wait a minute. You're not going to join?" Rachel asked.

She shook her head.

(Look at it this way, guys, Tobias said. If we ever don't come out of a mission alive, Sam is still here to keep up earth's resistance.)

Cassie nodded. "I could understand why someone wouldn't want to fight. And then, if we don't succeed, at least we have backup." Rachel looked as if she didn't agree to this, but said nothing.

Jake stood up, glancing at his watch. "Okay, team. I think that's it for the night. My parents are gonna be mad enough as it is. I think we should turn in."

Ax, coming out of a sort of daze, asked, (What is turning in?)

(Bedtime for you and me,) Tobias explained.

(Ah.)

The other Animorphs flew away, one by one. Soon only Ax, Bri, and I were left.

She looked at me. "Well. That went well. Now what?"

"Now, I demorph, and Ax and I get home. My parents might be anxious too, especially Mom." I began to demorph.

Bri nodded and yawned. "M'kay. I'll see you tomorrow, Zak, Ax." And she 'turned in'.

Sam escorted us to the door. "Your friends took that rather well," She commented.

I nodded. (Yeah. I have a feeling they've dealt with a lot of things more strange and terrifying than that,) I grinned. (See ya.)

"Goodnight."

Ax and I trotted back through the night to my house, once again in silence.

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That night, Ax's pacing awoke me.

(What's on your mind, Ax?)

He paced some more. (I…I do not want to admit it, but I believe your friends are right.) He turned to face me. (Zak, if the Andalite High Council ever learned that they had been spied on for some time by an advanced race, they would be angered, and rightfully so. But their pride would be damaged. They would declare war. And if what you say is true, they will lose. The Andalites will be a shadow of what we are now. I cannot let that happen.) He straitened his shoulders. (I will keep your secret, Zak. For the sake of the Andalite race.)

He laughed. (As it is, if I called up the Andalites and told them I had contacted a Kelbrid, they would not believe me. They would dismiss me as a lunatic or a liar.)

We spent much of that night talking. I couldn't sleep, and neither could Ax. So he told me about the traditions of the Andalite people, and demonstrated a few tail moves. I spoke of earth, and its wonderful foods, and my school. We talked until we dropped.

The war would later consume much of my life. Later, it would become so extreme I wasn't sure I could cope. But I knew, that whatever I went through, I knew I would always have a friend to share my experiences with. I was no longer isolated on earth. And no matter what I did as an Animorph, I would survive as long as I kept those friendships alive.


End file.
